Members & Membership

MEMBERSHIP & MEMBER SERVICES

By: Tara Hinkle

NCAFP Member Services Manager

NATIONAL

Karen Smith Elected to AAFP Board of Directors

Congratulations to NCAFP’s Dr. Karen Smith of Raeford, NC, on her recent AAFP campaign victory! Dr. Smith won a three-year term on AAFP’s Board of Directors at the 2021 AAFP Congress of Delegates Special Session. Serving alongside Dr. Smith for threeyear terms are Gail Guerrero-Tucker, MD (AZ), and Sarah Nosal, MD (NY). Teresa Lovins, MD (IN), will serve a one-year term. The Vice-Speaker win went to ELECT KAREN L. SMITH MD, FAAFP

for AAFP BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Daron Gersch, MD (MN), and Russell Kohl, MD (KS), will serve as Speaker. Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD (NY), is the new President-Elect, and Sterling Ransone, Jr., MD (VA), will serve as President. Best wishes to all! We are so excited for Dr. Smith, and we know she will do great things for Family Medicine, patients, and communities in NC and beyond.

2022 AAFP/NCAFP Dues Invoices Available for Payment/Deadline January 1st

Membership dues invoices for the 2022 calendar year are available for payment online at www.aafp.org/ checkmydues. These invoices apply to Active, Inactive, first-year Life, Supporting, and Transitional members. (If you are a Resident, please check with your residency coordinator to ensure your July – June dues are paid from your allocation). The payment deadline is January 1, 2022, and an installment plan is available. Remember your username is your email address on file with the AAFP. If you need assistance logging in, please call the AAFP at 1-800-274-2237.

If you have retired, interrupted practice, or moved out of NC, please contact the AAFP immediately for a status transfer or chapter relocation. Membership is unified, so your membership must be current with both the AAFP and the state chapter in which you live or work. If you have any questions or would like to pay by phone, please call the AAFP at 1-800-274-2237 M-F 9:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Mailed invoices have been sent to primary addresses on file with the AAFP, but they may be downloaded anytime online at www.aafp. org/checkmydues.

Important note: The AAFP has allowed a grace period in the past up until May. Due to member feedback and analysis, the cancelation for dues non-payment will be moved up to early March instead of May 2022. Please keep this in mind during your planning.

Thank you for your continued membership. We appreciate all you do for Family Medicine, your patients, and your communities!

MEMBER PERSPECTIVES

This editorial was published in the Charlotte Observer on September 30, 2021. Reprinted with author's permission.

When Your Doctor Leaves a Practice, You Shouldn’t Have to Play Hide and Seek

By Dr. Jessica Schorr Saxe

A few friends recently received letters informing them that their doctors were leaving their practices. The letters were perfunctory, acknowledging the doctor’s service and telling the patients that they could see other providers in the office.

In no case did the letters discuss the departing doctors’ plans — notably that they will still be practicing in Charlotte — nor tell the patients how they could continue care with their primary physicians. I am both shocked and not surprised. This is one more example of the encroachment of business decisions on the practice of medicine, of the primacy of institutional profit over the doctor-patient relationship.

As a physician, I took the Hippocratic oath to work “only for the good of my patients keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing” and to “safeguard the rights of my patients,” keeping their secrets and never revealing them. When I was in practice, I noted that the longer I knew patients, the more they trusted me,

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

David Baker, MD, featured in the August issue of Medical Professionals Charlotte

Check out the August issue of Medical Professionals Charlotte featuring Dr. David Baker of Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic, North End. Medical Professionals Charlotte is a peer-to-peer platform for the physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals in Mecklenburg County to share information about their specialties, collaborate, and hopefully encourage some new referral relationships. The article features some great family photos and covers wide-ranging topics from personal to professional. Dr. Baker has been an involved member of the NCAFP since his medical school days at ECU. Congratulations!

See 'Hide & Seek' on back cover

2021 CME Re-Election Deadline is December 31st

Members with a CME Re-election cycle ending 12/31/21 have until the end of this year to earn the 150 required credits for the three-year re-election cycle. (Remember, if you were a 2020 re-election candidate, your reporting deadline was extended until the end of this year—your hours must have been earned by 12/31/20). The cancelation date for any unreported CME credits will be early March, so make plans now to report your hours before the holiday rush. Reporting by the 12/31/21 deadline will also remove you from any reminder notifications. You may report your credits any of the following ways:

• Visit www.aafp.org/cme (your username is your email address on file with AAFP) • Call 1-800-274-2237 M-F 9:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. • Fax to 913-906-6075 • Scan letters of participation on AAFP’s free mobile app • Mail submissions to: AAFP Member Service Center, 11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway, Leawood, KS 66211-2672

If you have retired, interrupted practice, or moved out of NC, please contact the AAFP immediately for a status transfer or chapter relocation. If you are a 2021 re-election candidate, remember that you may count teaching/precepting, Board certification exam, and medical staff/society meetings. And a bonus, the AAFP will inform the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) once you have met its CME requirement! If you have any questions, please email aafp@aafp.org, call 1-800-274-2237, or visit CME FAQs at aafp.org/cme. The AAFP would also be happy to “walk through” your transcript with you to ensure all the credits you’ve earned are included.

Retired, Interrupted Practice or Moved Out of NC?

If your status has changed and you have either retired or interrupted practice, please notify the AAFP as soon as possible so your 2022 invoice will reflect your proper status.

If you have moved out of NC, a relocation to the state in which you live or work is required to maintain AAFP membership.

Please contact the AAFP at 1-800-274-2237 between 9:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. M-F.

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

Drs. Thomas White and Aregai Girmay Recognized as “Boundary Breakers” by the AAFP

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AAFP chose not to award a national Family Physician of the Year honor in 2020 or 2021. Last year, the AAFP named all family physicians as their Family Physician of the Year. This year, they are highlighting “boundary breakWhite Girmay ers” from each state. The NCAFP nominated our two most recent Family Physicians of the Year who were not able to be considered for the national honor: Drs. Thomas White and Aregai Girmay. Please see aafp.org/events/fmx/2021-highlights. html, as well as AAFP’s social media posts honoring Dr. White and Dr. Girmay.

Dr. Cody Wingler Interviewed on Healthcare in Rural NC by WFAE

NCAFP member Dr. Cody Wingler of Taylorsville, NC, was recently interviewed by WFAE Public Radio in Charlotte on healthcare issues in rural NC. The interview is part 3 of an 11-part series exploring healthcare costs in the U.S. called, “The Price We Pay.” In this interview titled, “In Places

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“ Patients who have been advised to quit smoking by their doctors have a 66 percent higher rate of success.”

Like Rural NC, 'Deaths of Despair and Education Level Lead to Decline in Life Expectancy,” Dr. Wingler discusses his experience as a family physician serving an economically depressed Taylorsville, the town in which he was born and raised.

NCAFP Past President Dr. Shannon Dowler Appointed to CHAC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention and Treatment (CHAC), has appointed Dr. Shannon Dowler as one of its four new members and South Carolina's Dr. Ada Stewart as the new Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) liaison to CHAC. Dr. Dowler currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at North Carolina Medicaid and is a passionate educator and advocate for sexual health. Dr. Stewart is a Lead Provider and HIV Specialist, Eau Claire Cooperative Health Centers (Now Cooperative Health) in Columbia, SC. She is currently chair of the board of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). We look forward to their many important contributions to come.

Duke's Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi Testifies Before Congress

NCAFP member Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, Director of Health Equity and Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Duke University School of Medicine, testified at a virtual hearing in September before two subcommittees of the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. The testimony was part of a joint hearing titled, “How to Save a Life: Successful Models for Protecting Communities from COVID-19.” The purpose of the hearing was to discuss best practices for increasing COVID-19 vaccinations through the lens of health equity. Dr. Martinez-Bianchi’s five-minute testimony can be seen at the 32:30 mark of the recording here: https://youtu.be/Bz-2r8DVQ9Y.

Martinez-Bianchi

October 2021 - Physician Employment Contracts

In the latest episode of NCFM Today, we talk to Shawn Parker, JD, MPA, General Counsel and Chief of Staff for the NC Academy of Family Physicians about physician employment contracts. Shawn discusses different elements in an employment contract, what physicians should look for, and where to find more help. This is definitely an episode you don’t want to miss.

September 2021 - Physician Career Transitions

A Family Medicine Community Podcast www.ncafp.com/podcasts

Also Dont Miss:

This episode of NCFM Today talks to five different family physicians who have all made transitions in their careers. They share pearls about how they made these decisions, what personal and professional influences led them to these decisions, and what other family physicians should consider as they think about transitioning jobs. They also discuss the unique ability of family physicians to practice in different settings and wear different hats from telehealth to Direct Primary Care to system-based practice to independent practice to the VA. You don't want to miss this informative episode as we hear from Dr. Vickie Fowler, Dr. Talia Aron, Dr. Thomas White, Dr. Takie Hondros and Dr. Liz Baltaro.

“The Family Doctor: Lessons Learned… Wisdom Shared” -- Dr. Thomas White talks to Dr Jim Jones, former President of the NCAFP and the AAFP, and former Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. Affectionately known as the “Godfather of Family Medicine in North Carolina”, Dr. Jones discusses the impact of his faith, the challenges he overcame and barriers he broke as a Native American, stories from his years in practice in Jacksonville NC (including a case you will not forget), and his efforts to further Family Medicine.