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Background |
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Outcomes & Strategies |
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Phases |
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Project Data Results |
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Core Attributes |
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Core Identity |
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Challenges |
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Recommendations |
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Implementation |
Recommendations
The following are the recommendations of the FFM final report:
New Model of Family Medicine
Family medicine will redesign the work and workplaces of family physicians. This redesign will foster a New Model of Care based on the concept of a relationship-centered personal medical home, which serves as the focal point through which all individuals — regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status participate in health care. In this new medical home, patients receive a basket of services of acute, chronic, and preventive medical care services that are accessible, accountable, comprehensive, integrated, patient-centered, safe, scientifically valid, and satisfying to both patients and their physicians. This New Model will include technologies that enhance diagnosis and treatment for a large portion of problems that people bring to their family physicians. Business plans and reimbursement models will be developed to enable the reengineered practices of family physicians to thrive as personal medical homes, and resources will be developed to help patients make informed decisions about choosing a personal medical home. A financially self-sustaining national resource will be implemented to provide practices with ongoing support in transitioning to the New Model of Family Medicine.
Communications
A unified communications strategy will be developed to promote an awareness and understanding of the New Model of Family Medicine and the concept of a Personal Medical Home. As part of this strategy, a new symbol for family physicians will be created, and consistent terminology will be established for the specialty, ("family medicine” rather than “family practice” and “family physician” rather than “family practitioner”). In addition, a system will be developed to communicate and implement best practices within family medicine.
Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records that support the New Model of family medicine will be implemented. The electronic health record will enhance and integrate communication, diagnosis and treatment, measurement of processes and results, analysis of the effects of co-morbidity, recording and coding elements of whole-person care, and promoting ongoing, healing relationships between family physicians and their patients.
Family Medicine Education
Family medicine will oversee the training of family physicians who are committed to excellence, steeped in the core values of the discipline, expert in providing family medicine’s basket of services within the New Model of Family Medicine, skilled at adapting to varying patient and community needs, and prepared to embrace new evidence-based technologies. Family medicine education will continue to include training in maternity care, the care of hospitalized patients, community and population health, and culturally effective and proficient care. Innovation in family medicine residency programs will be supported by the Residency Review Committee for Family Practice through 5-10 years of curricular flexibility to permit active experimentation and ongoing critical evaluation of competency-based education, expanded training programs and other strategies to prepare graduates for the New Model. In preparation for this process, every family medicine residency will implement electronic health records by 2006.
Life-Long Learning
The discipline of family medicine will develop a comprehensive, life-long learning program. This program will provide the tools for each family physician to create a continuous personal, professional, and clinical practice assessment and improvement plan that supports a succession of career stages. This personalized learning and professional development will include self-assessment and learning modules directed at individual physicians and group practices that incorporate science-based knowledge into educational interventions that foster improved patient outcomes. Family medicine residency programs and departments will incorporate continuing professional development into their curricula and will initiate and model the support process for life-long learning and maintenance of certification.
Enhancing the Science of Family Medicine
Participation in the generation of new knowledge will be integral to the activities of all family physicians and will be incorporated into family medicine training. Practice-based research will be integrated into the values, structures and processes of family medicine practices. Departments of family medicine will engage in highly collaborative research that produces new knowledge about the origins of disease and illness, how health is gained and lost, and how the provision of care can be improved. A national entity should be established to lead and fund research on the health and health care of whole people. Funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality should be increased to at least $1 billion per year.
Quality of Care
Close working partnerships will be developed between academic family medicine, community-based family physicians and other partners in order to address the quality goals specified in the IOM’s Quality Chasm report. Family physicians and their practice partners will have support systems to measure and report regularly their performance on the 6 IOM aims of quality health care (safe, timely, effective, equitable, patient-centered, and efficient). Family med residency programs will track and report regularly the performance of their residents during their training on the 6 IOM quality measures and will modify their training programs as necessary to improve performance.
Role of Family Medicine in Academic Health Centers
Departments of family medicine will individually and collectively analyze their position within the academic health center setting and will take steps to enhance their contribution to the advancement and rejuvenation of the AHC to meet the needs of the American people. A summit of policymakers and family medicine leaders in academia and private practice will be convened to review the role of and make recommendations on the future of family medicine in academia.
Promoting a Sufficient Family Medicine Workforce
A comprehensive Family Medicine Career Development Program and other strategies will be implemented to recruit and train a culturally diverse family physician workforce that meets the needs of the evolving US population for integrated health care for whole people, families and communities. Departments of family medicine will continue to develop, implement, disseminate and evaluate best practices in expanding student interest in the specialty.
Leadership and Advocacy
Recommendation #10 from the Future of Family Medicine Report concerned Leadership and Advocacy. The Strategic Initiative calls for: A Leadership Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care will be established which will develop strategies to promote family physicians and other primary care physicians as health policy and research leaders in their communities, in government, and in other influential groups. In their capacity as leaders, family physicians will convene leaders to identify and develop implementation strategies for several major policy initiatives, including assuring that every American has access to basic health care services. Family physicians will partner with others at the local, state and national levels to engage patients, clinicians and payers in advocating for a redesigned system of integrated, personalized, equitable and sustainable health care.