Committees

Goal: To provide high quality, affordable continuing medical education.

Definition

Committee plans educational activities that serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills and professional performance and relationships that a physician uses to provide services for patients, the public or the profession. The committee’s focus is on CME that is designed for family physicians; is unbiased of commercial interests; promotes improvements or quality in healthcare and is evidence-based.

Responsibility

• Review the submissions from the “Call for Speakers”
• Review the suggested topics as submitted from meeting attendees and VAFP members at large
• Propose topics for inclusion on the program for the Winter Family Medicine Weekend and the Annual Meeting
• Provide suggestions on future locations for CME meetings
• Review the questions included in the post meeting evaluations
• Stay up to date on the ACCME guidelines, AAFP CME requirements for members and the AAFP CME approval process

Goal: To increase continuity, expertise, and participation within the Academy in the areas of legislation, regulation, and advocacy.

Definition

The Legislative Committee informs and guides the Academy’s state advocacy program and works closely with the Academy’s Legislative Consultant. The scope of work may involve analysis of state legislative and regulatory policy issues impacting family physicians, patients and the health care system and provide recommendations for potential revisions to state legislative and regulatory policy issues that would have a positive impact on family physicians, patients, and the health care system.

Responsibility

Be present for weekly meetings during the Virginia General Assembly each year to provide input and direction to the Academy’s Legislative Consultant on all health-related legislation. Develop an established relationship with State Senator and Representative and be available as a Key Contact for legislators.

Goal: To address the needs of the resident, student, and faculty members in relationship to family medicine.

Definition

This committee focuses on the activities within the Academy that serve the resident, student, and faculty members. Members serve as resources for the Family Medicine Interest Groups and Family Medicine Residency Programs in the Commonwealth. The committee advises the staff when developing resident and student specific programming in conjunction with CME events and/or standalone events.

Goal: Through advocacy, education, and collaboration with other governmental and non-governmental organizations, to ensure that the highest quality health care is being provided to all our citizens.

Definition

When called upon by formal request of the VAFP Board or Executive Committee, the membership of the ad hoc committee would be mobilized to analyze the most up to date scientific literature and provide a scientifically impartial viewpoint, with acknowledgements of the potential confounding biases related to VAFP Board decision-making The VAFP Board or Executive Committee would need to approve by formal vote that perspectives of other professional ( (e.g. AAFP, AAP, ACOG, etc), governmental or non-governmental organizations are relevant, important and urgent enough to the VAFP mission and vision to merit a detailed evidence based review in order to request such ad hoc committee scientific response.

Responsibility

When called upon, to define the scientific question, the timeline for response, the depth of response, and then provide response with summary statistics (where available) and most relevant references. The committee is not one empowered to make statements, policy, or strategy, but is the ad hoc “Scientific Advising Committee” to the VAFP Board.

General Functions

Made up of members highly experienced in scientific literature analysis with broad access to scientific libraries, including the broad scope of family medicine, such as Preventive Medicine, Public Health, Vaccinations, Women’s Health, Pediatrics, Maternal Health & Mental Health. Each review may be primarily performed by one member but will require at least another member’s formal peer review to be considered a formal committee response.

Goal: To advance the professional and personal well-being of Virginia’s family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students.

Definition

This committee focuses on understanding the present struggles of the VAFP membership regarding clinician and care team well-being and working on ways to address them.

Responsibility

• Perform Member Needs Assessments
• Promote Well-being Resources, Programs, and Opportunities
• Promote Well-being Through Conferences and VAFP Website
• Form a Network of Family Physician Well-being Champions in Virginia