Pub. 3 2019 Issue 2

AAFP Congress of Delegates Kirsten Stoesser, UAFP Delegate, and Chad Spain, UAFP Alternate Delegate The Utah delegation, left to right, Chad Spain, alternate delegate, Jesse Spencer, delegate, Maryann Martindale, UAFP Executive Director, Sarah Woolsey, alternate delegate, and Kirsten Stoesser, delegate. The picture was taken on Elfreth’s Alley, the nation’s oldest continuously inhabited residential street. T he 2019 Congress of Delegates (COD) met in Philadelphia from Sept. 23-25. COD is the American Academy of Family Physicians’ (AAFP) policymaking body. Its membership consists of two delegates and two alternates from each state chapter. Each year, new officers and three members are elected to serve on the board of directors for the following 12 months. Members participate in hearings of the five refer- ence committees: Advocacy, Education, Health of the Pub- lic and Science, Organization and Finance, and Practice Enhancement. During the 2.5 days, delegates debated a broad range of policy, clinical and practice-related issues, and they voted in support or opposition to each resolution. Resolutions help determine the strategic policy decisions of both the national organization and local chapters and are used to help inform our legislative and policy efforts. • The Utah Academy’s delegates were Kirsten Stoesser, M.D., FAAFP, and Jesse Spencer, M.D. • The alternate delegates were Chad Spain, M.D., and Sarah Woolsey, M.D., MPH, FAAFP. UAFP Delegate, Kirsten Stoesser, was also a member of the Credentials Committee and spent her first day checking in delegates from across the country. AAFP President, Michael Munger, M.D., FAAFP, and Presi- dent-Elect Gary LeRoy, M.D., FAAFP, led off the Congress with a Town Hall Meeting that touched on achievements of the AAFP in the past year, current priorities, and strategic plans. They celebrated in reminding us that hard-fought changes in payment reform, including changes in E/M bill- ing requirements, and the introduction of new alternative payment models from CMS, are on the horizon. Strategic initiatives of the AAFP over the next 10 years will focus on four core areas; 1) Supporting and sustaining com- prehensive family medicine practices, 2) Growing a diverse family medicine workforce, 3) Equipping members with expertise to provide better individual and population health, and 4) Decreasing administrative complexity and burden placed on family physician and family physician practices. On Sept. 23, the first official day of Congress, resolutions from all states were presented and testimony was heard about issues important to family physicians and their pa- tients. UAFP presented two resolutions focused on creating additional financial incentives for medical students to choose family medicine and on developing better communication of CME offerings between chapters of neighboring states. Some of the key issues heard during the reference com- mittee debates included ways to reduce administrative burden, concerns about the scope of practice, and medi- cal aid in dying terminology, as well as the not-surprisingly controversial and often heated debates over single-payer promotion, and medical abortion. Day two began with candidate speeches by those running for national leadership positions. It was clear that AAFP will be in good hands moving forward. The dedicated physicians running are well-versed in the value and chal- lenges of family medicine. They spoke about revolutionary changes that need to oc- cur in primary care payment models and workflows, the need to protect our physicians and, ultimately, to protect our patients, and how crucial it is that others are not al- www.UtahAFP.org | 20