Maybe I’m biased, but Saturday is my favorite day of Annual Session! The morning started on the business side with the meeting of the TAFP Board of Directors and on the education side with the CME breakfast kicking off another full day of lectures.

The Business and Awards Lunch is where the Academy hands out top honors to outstanding family physicians and family medicine supporters. Dr. Tom Mueller of Columbus received the 2011 Family Physician of the Year Award. Glowing words from patients aside, his reflections on the important role of family physicians in caring for the community were amplified by his family’s commitment to the profession – at least five Muellers are also decorated family physicians. See the full list of Award recipients here: http://www.tafp.org/news/newsreleases/11Awards.pdf.

During the second part of the lunch, we inducted our 2011-2012 officers. Incoming President Dr. Balkcom talked about the need to stand up for family medicine and its central role in health care.

TAFP was proud to pilot live streaming of the CME lecture, “Know Before You Sign! What to Look for in a Physician Employment Contract, Including Employment by Non-Profit Health Corporations” with Doug Kennedy, J.D. Though clearly expert on the topic, he mixed humor and helpful tips on how to make sure you as the physician are properly represented in an employment contract, especially as the system moves toward quality reporting and coordinated care through integrated organizations. This lecture and two others will be available through the TAFP website soon. And we hope to expand our live streaming capability for the Payment Reform Summit on Oct. 1 in Austin. Stay tuned!

Attendees had a blast at the signature event of Annual Session, the President’s Party, which celebrated Dr. I. L. Balkcom, IV, as he started his term. Everyone had a great view of sunset over downtown Dallas from the 38th floor of the Sheraton, and enjoyed great food (a mashed potato bar!), great music, and casino games. Through craps, roulette, blackjack, and Texas hold ’em, players earned as much as possible in the hopes of turning in winnings for raffle tickets to win an e-reader. We closed out the house and all left the party with big smiles and new stories.

For Saturday, we’re signing off. Join us tomorrow for the final day of the 2011 TAFP Annual Session & Scientific Assembly.

Friday kicked off with the grand opening of the Exhibit Hall. More than 60 exhibitors from all facets of the health care industry staffed booths, ready to reach out to the family physicians of Texas. From Texas Medical Liability Trust to e-MDs to PedsPal, each vendor had a unique appeal to medical practice.

The big opening event coincided with the breakfast, featuring the TAFP Foundation board members greeted attendees and spoke about the group’s important philanthropic work. The Foundation is also offering 15-minute chair massages in the Hall; attendees have one more day to take advantage this perk, with proceeds benefiting the Foundation.

Also in the hall were the research poster displays, which brought medical students, family medicine residents, and family physicians from across the state to show off their latest findings. The grand winner was resident Richel Avery, M.D., of UTHSCSA, “Residents’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors in Colon Cancer Prevention: Findings from a Residency Training Project.”

On the CME side, lectures were well attended and received great reviews. Of note was the lecture “Five Things I Wish I Knew Last Year” with top-rated speaker Dr. Louis Kuritzky (who one attendee said should give all of the lectures – he was that good), and the ethics lecture on the appropriate process to certify deaths.

Capping the evening was the reception to honor AAFP President and long-time family medicine leader Dr. Roland Goertz. Because of his involvement with the TAFP Foundation and his role as a champion for future family physicians, we created a medical student scholarship in his name. Not surprisingly, Dr. Goertz’s work on the state and national level has touched many people and, as a result, inspired them to contribute to the scholarship. As of the end of the reception, TAFP members and friends had contributed more than $30,000, reaching the full-funding level!

Thanks again for joining us and have a good night. We’ll be back early in the morning with more special events and great CME!

All hands were on deck for this busy Thursday. A note on how it all fits together, “Annual Session” refers to the business portion while the “Scientific Assembly” refers to the continuing medical education portion.

Both were in full swing today with Day 2 of the NPI workshop, the start of general session CME, and TAFP members meeting throughout the day in a dozen different policy-making groups.

One CME seminar to highlight is “Financial Realities for the Physician Manager,” with top Academy business minds Dr. Robert Youens of Weimar, Dr. Doug Curran of Athens, and Dr. Stephen Benold of Georgetown. Both Dr. Youens and Dr. Curran run very successful family medicine practices in rural areas, and Dr. Benold spends part of his time as a financial advisor. The idea for this seminar actually began with our August 2010 Strategic Planning meeting: TAFP members wanted more training as an increasing number of physicians are taking a larger role in the business side of medicine. Whether running a solo practice or joining a large hospital group, this seminar taught attendees the basics of business—addressing the difference between benchmarking and profit, the bottleneck concept, and the importance of efficiency.

The Commission on Public Health had two excellent speakers speaking on the challenges facing Texas – Dr. Stephen Harris, the medical authority for Dallas County HHS, and Brian Rosemond of DSHS. Dr. Harris highlighted top public health goals: decreasing childhood obesity, implementing routine HIV testing, and addressing the North Texas Mass Critical Care Guidelines and FEMA mass sheltering rules. Many commission members didn’t know about FEMA’s “Guidance on Planning for Integration of Functional Needs Support Services in General Population Shelters,” but they were surprised to hear that some measures make it possible to hold cities liable if they aren’t able to meet very specific special needs of their patients, even if they are unfeasible on a mass scale.

On another note, what’s a conference without good food? During an excellent lunch, a special guest speaker updated commission members on the latest dietary guidelines and challenges facing school-aged youth in Texas. Former Dallas Cowboys fullback Daryl “Moose” Johnston, representing DairyMAX and Fuel Up To Play 60, gave commission members something to chew on – actions they as family physicians could take to influence better nutrition and more physical activity in pediatric patients and their families.

The last event of the night is the TAFP Commission on Legislative and Public Affairs / Town Hall Meeting. Always a popular meeting, commission members and guests digested the 82nd Texas Legislature and discussed the potential fallout from some pretty severe budget decisions. (For a recap, check out the final episode of TAFP’s Capitol Report webcast.)

That’s all for Thursday. Thanks for joining us in Dallas and online, and don’t forget to stay connected to your colleagues. We encourage you to comment, tweet on Twitter (using hashtag #TAFP), and post on our Facebook page.

Day 1 is done! The last of the TAFP staff arrived at the host hotel, the Sheraton Dallas, joining in the effort to prepare for the week’s activities. The hotel is huge with three different towers of rooms and meeting space. Attendees will mostly use the center tower and the second floor for our meetings, special events, and education. (Please feel free to come by the TAFP registration desk to ask a question or just to say hi. We’re on the second floor by the skybridge.)

Today was the first of two days of the NPI workshop. We also held the SAM Workshop on Health Behavior that helps attendees meet one requirement of the American Board of Family Medicine Maintenance of Certification. The sold-out SAM was a great success; everyone passed the Knowledge Assessment portion of the SAM and now only has to complete an additional test to receive full credit. Dr. Clare Hawkins, the SAM moderator, did a great job as usual.

Tomorrow (Thursday) will be one of the busiest days of Annual Session with the second day of the NPI workshop, lots of Annual Session business meetings, and the start of the general session CME with afternoon concurrent seminars. Thanks for joining us on our virtual site, and don’t forget to check in and comment! Goodnight!

The view from the Sheraton Dallas

Join us here on Saturday, July 30, at 5:15 p.m. (Central), for the live webcast of TMLT’s “Know Before You Sign! What to Look for in a Physician Employment Contract, Including Employment by Non-Profit Health Corporations” with Douglas Kennedy, J.D.

Sign in and join in the chat room, as Mr. Kennedy discusses many of the elements of the new practice models.
 
 

Streaming video by Ustream

TAFP’s 2011 Annual Session and Scientific Assembly presents an outstanding opportunity for all TAFP members to participate, provide input, and interact with our fully-integrated social media program during the entire gathering.

Stay connected to your colleagues here through the Annual Session Social Media Portal, your hub for live-streamed video; TAFP’s social media feeds; and discussion topics before, during, and after Annual Session.  We encourage all to participate, even if you can’t be with us in Dallas.

Through this page of the TXFamilyDocs blog, we’ll post the latest news, gather attendee feedback, and stream a lecture from the 2011 Annual Session, TMLT’s “Know Before You Sign! What to Look for in a Physician Employment Contract, Including Employment by Non-Profit Health Corporations” with Douglas Kennedy, J.D. The live stream webcast is new this year. Join us Saturday, July 30 from 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. to view.

And if you’re tweeting during the conference, don’t forget to follow TAFP on Twitter and include the hashtag #TAFP in your tweets so it’s logged in the conference feed on the side of the page. Also make sure to check in on TAFP’s Facebook page. Post your thoughts on speakers, special events, and exhibitors. Shooting photos? Sign up through Flickr and upload them to our group, http://www.flickr.com/groups/txfamilydocs, so they’ll be displayed in our Flickr feed.

Not only will you be able to keep up with your colleagues in Dallas, but you’ll also be able to enrich your experience by connecting with your colleagues around the state, our top-rated speakers, vendors, and staff, and participating in discussions of your choosing — all right here through TAFP’s blog, TXFamilyDocs.org.

So sign up, log in, and start sharing!