AMAM FOCUSES ON HEALTH EQUITY

In March, almost 200 family physicians, residents, and medical students from across the State met in Sacramento for CAFP’s All Member Advocacy Meeting (AMAM). AMAM is an opportunity for CAFP members to shape policy. CAFP policies, which guides CAFP’s advocacy, begin as resolutions that are submitted by CAFP members for consideration by the CAFP Board of Directors. At AMAM, the authors of resolutions have the opportunity to present their resolution to AMAM delegates and the Board, and the Board has the opportunity to hear testimony from AMAM delegates supporting, opposing, or proposing amendments to resolutions. This year, 17 resolutions were presented and attendees provided testimony for Board consideration.

Also during AMAM, AAFP President, Dr. Tochi Iroku-Malize conferred fellowship on the newest group of fellows and swore in CAFP’s newly elected officers and president. We also celebrated the efforts and achievements of those who worked to advance issues important to family physicians. Kimberly Buss, MD, MPH, was awarded the Hero of Family Medicine award, which is presented annually to a CAFP member who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to advocate for patients, colleagues, and the family medicine specialty. During the celebrations, there was a surprise virtual appearance by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra. Secretary Becerra recognized the work of family physicians in their communities and expressed that he is looking forward to collaborating on ways to increase access to care.

AMAM provides CAFP members with training and education on pressing health care issues so you can be effective advocates for your patients and specialty. This year’s AMAM focused on health equity to address two of CAFP’s strategic goals – system transformation and prioritizing justice through equity, diversity, and inclusion. The keynote speaker was Jahmal Miller, Chief Administrative Officer of Mercy Medical Group. In 2013, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Mr. Miller to serve as the Deputy Director of the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Health Equity and the State’s lead advisor on issues related to reducing health and mental health disparities and achieving health equity for all Californians. At AMAM, he talked about his professional journey in the fight for health equity and how physicians can take actionable steps to promote health equity. Following his presentation, we took a hands-on approach to promoting equity with a training on ‘Evaluating Policy

Catrina Reyes, Esq. VP of Advocacy & Policy

with an Equity Lens,’ presented by Courtnee Melton-Fant, PhD, MS, an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Systems Management and Policy at the University of Memphis.

Advocacy training is a key component of AMAM so attendees received a legislative briefing of CAFP’s advocacy priorities from CAFP’s Legislative Affairs Committee Chair, Jeffrey Luther, MD, FAAFP, and the advocacy team. After which, there were two advocacy training tracks - Crafting Your Message, Telling Your Story, and Meeting with Your Legislator presented by speech and leadership coach, Nina Surya, and for the more seasoned advocate, training was provided on other advocacy avenues including running for office and serving on advisory committees, presented by political strategist, Danielle Cendejas.

Thanks to the fundraising savviness of the Family Physicians Political Action Committee (FP-PAC) Chair, Shannon Connolly, MD, FAAFP, and FP-PAC Board members, the FP-PAC had a record-breaking amount of donations raised at AMAM. FP-PAC is the only political action committee in California that has the sole mission of promoting family physicians and family medicine. During Lobby Day, FP-PAC contributors attended a donor reception with legislative guests Assembly Member Corey Jackson (District 60, Moreno Valley), Assembly Member Mike Fong (District 49, Alhambra), and Assembly Member Juan Alanis (District 22, Modesto).

Because of your support, we were able to help elect the first family physician to the California State Assembly, Dr. Jasmeet Bains. Assembly Member Bains joined her fellow family physicians at AMAM to talk about her victorious journey to the State Assembly. Assembly Member Bains is already making a great impact in the Legislature. She was appointed to be Chair of the Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care and has introduced a number of bills to improve access to care and to address the fentanyl crisis.

CAFP’s Lobby Day was held in-person and in meetings with legislative offices, CAFP family physician advocates educated legislators and their staffers on the breadth of family physician training and the diverse populations family physicians serve. Over the course of over 60 legislative meetings, advocates asked legislators to support CAFP’s sponsored bill – AB 85 authored by Assembly Member Weber on social determinants of health – and to continue to maintain the General Fund expenditure allocated to the Song-Brown program for primary care graduate medical education (GME) programs. AB 85 requires health plans and insurers to provide coverage and reimbursement for social determinants of health screenings and to provide primary care providers with adequate access to community health workers or social workers. AB 85 also creates a working group to create a standardized model and procedures for connecting patients with community resources, to assess the need for a centralized list of accredited community providers, and to determine gaps in research and data to inform policies on system changes to address social determinants of health.

The week of AMAM was Family Physician Week. Senator Josh Newman authored SCR 23, a resolution designating the week of March 26, 2023 to April 2, 2023 as Family Physician Week. Senator Newman presented the resolution on the Senate Floor on National Doctors Day – March 30, 2023. Make sure to join us next year! Save the date for the 2024 All Member Advocacy Meeting - April 13-14th, Lobby Day April 15th. To stay in the loop on CAFP’s advocacy efforts, sign up to be a Key Contact.

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Susan Glockner, MD, FAAFP