www.fmec.net

March | 2022

THANK YOU TO OUR 2021 TOP SPONSORS

As we send this month’s newsletter, the AAFP’s Residency Leadership Summit has just wrapped up in Kansas City, and I write this greeting amongst family medicine educators from across the country. It was great to reconnect with friends and colleagues during this important juncture for health care and family medicine, in particular.

It also highlighted the value of the FMEC and the strength of the connections we already have across the Northeast. As we move forward with new ACGME requirements and re-focus on the importance of collaboration and our specialty’s roots in the community, there is great potential for the FMEC to play an even larger role. Plans for our September FMEC Annual Meeting are well underway. I look forward to forging new relationships, strengthening existing relationships and finding new ways to connect now and leading into our fall meeting.

Donald (Raj) Woolever, MD, FAAFP

raj.woolever@mainegeneral.org

Ukraine: What can you do to help?



People and organizations of conscience around the world are condemning the unprovoked Russian war on Ukraine. While we continue to hope for peace, we also encourage action to help support the healthcare providers, aid organizations and others struggling to save lives during this crisis.

• Global Giving Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund – The nonprofit global giving platform has set up a fund that will help local partners bring relief to terrified and displaced communities.
• International Rescue Committee Crisis in Ukraine – The committee, which works in over 40 crisis-affected countries, is supporting evacuation from Ukraine, emergency aid to displaced families, and more.
• UNICEF - UNICEF is supporting health, nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation and protection for children and families caught in the conflict in Ukraine.
• Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders - MSF is conducting a range of activities in Ukraine to help people travel to health care facilities and access medications.
• International Committee of the Red Cross - The Switzerland-based international organization seeks to help people affected by the conflict and support the work of the Ukrainian Red Cross.
• Save the Children - The London-based organization helps deliver essential humanitarian aid to vulnerable children in Ukraine and around the world.
• UN Refugee Agency - The international organization is providing emergency assistance to families in Ukraine, including cash assistance and opportunities for resettlement.

FMEC awards program is open

The FMEC is proud to support leaders in the family medicine community through our Annual Awards Competition.

We seek nominations for the following Leadership Awards: 

• Family Physicians Changing Our World 
• Mid-Career Faculty Achievement
• Emerging Leaders

We also seek submissions for the following Creative Expression Awards:

• This We Believe
• Creative Writing
• Family Medicine through the Visual Arts

Visit the FMEC Awards website for more information on the criteria and submission process.

The deadline for submission and nominations is April 15, 2022.

Geropalliative Care Series is available!

The FMEC’s Geropalliative Care Series, an online CME course, is approved for 6.0 AAFP Prescribed Credits through February 1, 2023. The course focuses on patient-centered care of frail older adults in their last 2 to 5 years of life. The series will cover what is geropalliative care, frailty, delirium (understanding the importance and prevention), evidence-based medical prognostication, and the potential harms caused by continuing traditional care. The course was developed for the FMEC by Dr. Daniel Hoefer, the Chief Medical Officer for Sharp HealthCare’s outpatient palliative care program Transitions, and Associate Medical Director for Sharp HospiceCare. The course is only $120 for FMEC members (only $50 for resident members), and you can view it at your leisure through February of 2023. Visit Geropalliative Care Series and register now.

FMEC live and in person in 2022!



• American Medical Student Association (AMSA) - The FMEC will be exhibiting at AMSACon 2022 on April 7-9, 2022, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. Let us know if you will be there and stop by our table!
• Direct Primary Care (DPC) Summit: The summit will be held in-person in Kansas City, MO on July 15-17, 2022. This year, content will meet you where you are in the DPC process – those who are just curious and learning about the model, those who need help starting a DPC practice, and those who’ve been practicing DPC for years and want to share and learn with others. Visit the Direct Primary Care Summit site for more information.

FACTS project

Registration for the FACTS 2022 virtual conference: For the Future of Women's Health, is open. From May to August, four half-day sessions will be held around the world, enabling participants to attend virtually in real-time and earn CME credit. FACTS has also announced its

FMEC 2021 Annual Report now online

Despite COVID-19 challenges, the FMEC had a strong year in 2021. We held our 2021 Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, continued our many successful learning communities, increased support for our Legacy Campaign, and began work on diversity, equity and inclusion. Read more about the FMEC’s last year in the new FMEC 2021 Annual Report.

Join the FMEC to support Family Medicine

Individuals can join the FMEC to support our mission to promote family medicine and to get discounts and access to a range of services and resources. Residents and fellows can join for only $30. To help the FMEC develop new programming and better support family medicine, the FMEC’s individual dues rates for others (post-training physicians, faculty, administrators, and other healthcare providers – anyone can join!) will go up on April 1, 2022, from $50 to $75. If your institution is an FMEC partner at the Silver Level or above, you may receive a complimentary FMEC individual membership. Contact the FMEC at denise.steele@fmec.net for more information on memberships and partnerships.

FMEC, Samueli Foundation release paper on integrative health business case

U.S. health care systems and clinics report reducing costs, improving patient experience and outcomes, and enhancing clinician wellbeing by delivering integrative care, according to a new white paper published by Samueli Foundation and the FMEC. The Case for Delivering Whole-Person Health Care details how shifting treatment practices to an integrative approach that mixes evidence-based conventional medicine, non-drug treatments, and self-care can help achieve far-reaching systemic improvements. Since 2020, the Family Medicine Education Consortium has been working with the Samueli Foundation and 17 clinics around the country in a learning collaborative to improve the delivery of person-centered integrative health practices in routine primary care. The learning collaborative, which wraps up this spring, helps health care providers understand the crucial role of non-pharmacological and self-care approaches in primary care for improving health and reducing risk factors for chronic disease; learn how to use the HOPE Tools and evidence-based integrative medicine practices and adapt them for routine use in their clinics; and implement integrative health visits in a subgroup of patients in the clinic as a routine process. Read more about the business case paper in this press release from Samueli Foundation, and for more information about the FMEC’s work, visit our Integrative Health Learning Community. 

Quick COVID-19 survey shows response from primary care

Since March 2020, the Larry A. Green Center and its funders have conducted a national survey to better understand the response and capacity of US primary care providers (PCPs) to COVID-19. AND YOU HELPED! The FMEC thanks its members for participating. Results of the ongoing survey are available on the Green Center’s Quick Covid-19 Survey page. The latest findings, in four reports from October 2021 through February 2022, coincide with the surge of the Omicron variant, and including the following key points:

• 10% of PCPs report receiving weekly calls from health care colleagues in the midst of a personal mental health crisis;
• 54% say video- and phone-based care have become essential, and 25% have created new positions/roles in the practice to enable use of video- and phone-based care;
• 31% now work more closely with public health and/or community organizations, and 57% became more involved in mental health support; and strain and staffing shortages have meant that 53% of clinicians are doing unreimbursed administrative work, and 32% we have reduced participation in training of students and residents.



The results “paint both a stark and inspiring picture,” as PCPs pivoted to provide new and critical services but suffered from stress, low/slow reimbursement, and staffing issues. Despite loss of staff, workforce, and revenue, primary care continues to prioritize patient needs above all else. Read more on the Green Center’s Quick Covid-19 Survey page.

Find your next opportunity through the FMEC

The FMEC’s Special Edition Newsletter includes job and fellowship postings from FMEC Partners. The March 2022 edition includes many openings from over a dozen health systems. Posting job opportunities in this newsletter, which goes to thousands of FMEC contacts throughout the northeast, is a benefit for FMEC Partners at the Silver Level and above.

Launching CoreCases 2.0 with smartphone access

Introductory pricing discounts through April 8

FMEC’s business partner, Core Cases, offers the most sophisticated virtual-patient, case-based curricula, and can now reach on-site and distance learners with new upgrades including access by smartphone. CoreCases advances clinical decision-making and communication skills for healthcare trainees and now includes the CoreCases Index Question Bank, which determines strengths and knowledge gaps to personalize the experience with links to relevant learning and remediation; more than 700 disease states with curricula mapped to competencies and milestones; and push technologies, to provide spaced repetition to keep information top-of-mind and improve retention. Contact CoreCases for more information and demonstrations, and remember that through the FMEC’s business relationship with CoreCases, your support also helps the FMEC!

PSLF loan forgiveness has changed, and now you may qualify

Imagine the savings. Previously, only two percent of physicians applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness receive it. On Oct. 6, 2021, President Biden changed that. Previously ineligible people may now qualify. But details are dicey and must be followed meticulously. Our webinar provides everything you need to see if you qualify. And if so, how to make it happen.

The catch? The Limited Waiver Option which enables these changes ends Oct. 31, 2022. So this is one time not to procrastinate. Start with our Webinar on April 19th at 5:30p (ET). Your new budget will thank you. Look for details next week on registration information for this webinar. 

Want to start right away? Then set your appoint and schedule a FREE 15-minute loan review call, visit: https://navigate.as.me/FMEC

Sharing Our Skates: This short reflection is taken from Pulse - Voices from the Heart of Medicine. Subscribe to Pulse to support the arts and health care, and to receive a first-person story or poem, together with a visual image or haiku, about health care every Friday.

Hippocrates Café: Reflections on the Pandemic. Hosted by Dr. Jon Hallberg and Dr. Renée Crichlow, and in partnership with the University of Minnesota Medical School, this hour-long PBS special includes performances that explore the impact of Covid-19 through music, art, animation, photography, story, poetry and dance.

Thank you to UPMC Life Changing Medicine

On behalf of the FMEC Board of Trustees and the many medical students, residents and faculty who benefit from the FMEC’s programs and services, a hearty THANK YOU to UPMC Life Changing Medicine for renewing its partnership with the FMEC at the President Level. The support of UPMC and other FMEC partners is critical to the FMEC’s success.

Thank you to Highland Family Medicine



The FMEC thanks Highland Family Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center and its Family Medicine Residency Program for joining the FMEC as a Silver Partner!



Become a Partner or Member today

Joining the FMEC as an individual or institution not only supports our mission to strengthen family medicine and support medical students and residents, but gives you tangible benefits and discounts as well. Read more about FMEC Memberships and Partnerships now, and join or renew. And don’t forget to watch the FMEC Special Edition email newsletter for job and fellowship openings. Like discounts on exhibit booths and residency fair tables, promoting job and fellowship opportunities through FMEC is a benefit of certain partner levels – read more about FMEC’s Partner Benefits and join FMEC now.

A selection of upcoming family medicine and primary care meetings, nationally and in the FMEC region, in the next 3 months. If you have a meeting to be listed, please email jennifer.stamper@fmec.net.

September 16-18, 2022: FMEC 2022 Annual Meeting, Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA

March 30-April 2: AAFP Physician Health and Wellbeing Conference, Naples, FL

April 7-9: American Medical Student Association AMSACon2022, Washington, DC

April 13-17: Student National Medical Association 2022 Conference, Orlando, FL

April 30-May 4: STFM Annual Spring Conference, Indianapolis, IN

July 15-17: AAFP/ACOFP/FMEC/DPC Alliance Direct Primary Care Summit, Kansas City, MO

July 28-30: AAFP National Conference of Family Medicine Residents & Medical Students, Kansas City, MO

September 11-14, STFM Conference on Practice and Quality Improvement, Savannah, GA