Our Mission
To be the voice of Family Physicians by promoting the value of the specialty of family medicine and improving health for all through advocacy, education and action.
Vision
IAFP will: 1) Exercise stewardship through fiscal and operational accountability; 2) Advocate for family physicians with the challenges they face in practice and with the needs of their patients; 3) Collaborate pro-actively to increase awareness of our advocacy 4) Improve the health care system 5) Support and strengthen family medicine's workforce 6) Promote professional development of family physicians 7) Aspire to have equitable representation of those underrepresented or under-powered in medicine.
IAFP Strategic Plan
ABOUT FAMILY MEDICINE Family medicine's cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focusing on integrated care. Unlike other specialties that are limited to a particular organ or disease, family medicine integrates care for patients of both genders and every age, and advocates for the patient in a complex health care system. Family physicians provide pre-natal care through end of life care and often treat generations of members of the same family.
ABOUT THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN Family physicians are truly the foundation of our health care system. As our nation's population grows and ages, no other specialty is better prepared to meet these needs. Ninety percent of U.S. family physicians treat Medicare patients, providing their ongoing primary care and coordinating needed specialty care. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America's underserved rural and urban populations. In fact, family physicians are distributed more proportionally to the U.S. population than any other physician specialty. Without family physicians, rural and underserved populations, in particular, would lack access to primary care.
Because of their extensive training, family physicians are the only specialists qualified to treat most ailments and provide comprehensive health care for people of all ages - from newborns to seniors. Additionally, family physicians complete a rigorous re-certification process every seven years. AAFP members are required to complete 150 hours of continuing medical education every three years to maintain their memberships. These measures ensure that family physicians are current and comprehensive in caring for patients throughout the life spectrum.
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