The Georgia Academy of Family Physicians would like you to participate in the 48th Annual Congress of Delegates. There will be a call on October 20 at 6 pm where all members are invited to listen in and discuss the policy deliberations. Time and call in information will be announced in the next newsletter. We would like for all members to participate.
Please plan to be on this call as we would like for you to voice your opinion on the resolutions being presented.
The request for resolutions deadline has passed and therefore these are the final resolutions.
- Bylaws Revision
Submitted by: The Bylaws Committee
The GAFP Bylaws Committee met once this year at the March GAFP Committee Conclave in Pine Mountain because a resolution related to bylaws from the 2015 Congress of Delegates was referred to the GAFP Board of Directors. The Board recommended forming a brief task force of the COD, which met by phone in January and recommended the following revision to the GAFP Bylaws:
CHAPTER 7, Section 6:
And, let it be resolved that, the Family Medicine Residency Programs consider a full delegation to be up to 3 resident members and 3 alternate resident members, each from different Georgia family medicine residency programs, with elections by resident members;
CHAPTER 7, Section 7:
And let it be Resolved that, the Family Medicine Interest Groups move to a full delegation of 2 medical student members and 3 alternate medical student members, each from different Georgia medical school campuses, with elections by student members;
And, let it be further Resolved that, this new Congress of Delegates composition be effective beginning the 2017 Congress of Delegates.
This update was approved by the Bylaws Committee as recommended from the Task Force and was sent to the Georgia Academy membership to review in advance of the 100 days’ deadline per Chapter 14 of the GAFP Bylaws where it states that notices must be given “at least one hundred (100) days prior to any regular or special meeting of the Congress of Delegates,” and will be included as a resolution to the 2016 Congress of Delegates.
The proposed changes were published in the August 15, 2016 issue of Briefly Stated and also uploaded on the website at https://www.magnetmail.net/Actions/email_web_version.cfm?publish=newsletter&user_id=GAAFP&message_id=13388897.
- Identification of the Entity initiating Prescription refill requests
Submitted by: Willard A. Snyder, Jr., MD
Whereas, electronic prescriptions and reconciliation of medications have become the standard of care in order to prevent medical errors;
Whereas, auto-refills or robotic refill requests often present inappropriate requests, and potentially result in excessive refills, inappropriate refills of discontinued medications, or other mistakes;
Whereas, being able to identify the source of the request (patient, auto-refill, or pharmacy) will assist the physician in identifying the need for the refill;
Resolve that, the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians forward a resolution to the American Academy of Family Physicians to promote rules and regulations to assist physicians in identifying the initiator of refill requests, particularly web-renewals;
And be it further resolved, that the Georgia Academy forward a resolution to the American Academy to promote standardization of location of labeling of prescriptions, including font size, etc. to assist physicians in being able to gather important information from medicine bottles to appropriately determine need for refills.
- Education for Changes in payment models
Submitted by: Tammy Robinson, MD
Whereas, Family Physicians need training in new payment models;
Whereas, MIPS and MACRA are to go in effect in 2019 ;
Whereas, planning and preparation are needed to adopt these models;
Resolve that, The Georgia Academy of Family Physicians explore effective training sessions in these areas;
And, Resolve that, the Georgia Academy develop methods to educate its members on upcoming changes in payment models;
And, Be it further resolved, that the Georgia Academy be proactive in education of its members.