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.
Implementation Update (January 2005): An ad hoc staff workgroup will develop a business plan to address the following:
- An increase in the number of family physicians postured and trained to become health care leaders.
- An increase in the number of family physicians who assume leadership positions outside of health care such as national legislature, state-elected roles, and even serving on school boards. This would serve as a way for family physicians to be seen as community leaders.
- A plan to assess the number of family physicians currently serving in leadership positions.
- Information on current FP leaders to determine leadership characteristics.
- Process for developing training to expand family physician leadership skills and the method(s) by which this training would be provided.
- Plan for educating family physicians about leadership opportunities.
- Future assessment of the number of family physicians in leadership positions to determine effectiveness of the program.