The mission of the Rhode Island Chapter of the
American Academy of Family Physicians is to promote
excellence
in health care and the betterment of
the health of the American people

 

 

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RIAFP
1445 Wampanoag Trail #205
East Providence, RI 02915
(phone) 401-647-3595
(fax) 401-647-3597

info@riafp.org


 

 


Thanks To YOU Members!

We had a great meeting at Crowne Plaza this year. I really enjoyed seeing each and every one of you.

Here are the names of the folks that won our raffle prizes. Congratuations to those of you who won the free prizes during the lecture breaks!

Margaret A. Sun - Roses, from Forrest Hills Nursery
John Solomon - "Highland Park" photo from Denise Bass
Sarah Fessler - Alfredo Lorenzo Print
Dariusz K - Nordland Farm, Free Riding lesson
Paul George - "Belair" Photo, from Denise Bass
Scott Curran - Spa Basket, from
Home and Hospice
Arnold Goldberg - Frazel Lazer Treatment (he gave it away!), from Dr. John Bossian
Fred Baker - Frog Necklace, from Diana Dodge Designs

Special thanks to all who donated prizes:
Yoga with Lora (she is fantastic)
Nordland Farm
Alfredo Lorenzo
Home and Hospice
Open MRI
WBRU
AAFP
Diana Dodge
Denise Rego Bass

*a few winners got away without my writing thier name down!


2008 RIAFP Legislative Agenda

Would you like to be involved in the process? Let me know at info@riafp.org


RIAFP Policy Brief: 9/20/07
Will merger threaten primary care?


THE PROPOSED MERGER of Lifespan and Care New England may well herald a new era in Rhode Island. The union of these organizations makes the proposed move of the Brown (Warren Alpert) Medical School to the South Providence area a much more powerful synergy, which potentially brings together big medicine, big research and high-tech industry.
MORE



January 31, 2007
Providence Journal OP-ED
How to Build a Health Care System 101

Learn more about Medicare Part D at the
new Department of Health Website:
http://www.health.ri.gov/medicare

 

 

 

 

 

Submitted by Matthew Burke, MD

Merger:

The hot topic at the most recent Primary Care Physician's Advisory Committee was the impending merger of the Lifespan and Care New England, a move that would administratively enjoin Rhode Island (including Hasbro), Woman and Infant's, The Miriam, Kent, Newport and Butler Hospitals. This merger would unite nearly half the hospitals in the state and the majority of inpatient beds and ancillary medical services. As the merger has progressed it has gained janitorial blessing and has passed federal antitrust investigations enhancing the likelihood of successful passage. As this occurs it is imperative to evaluate the potential impact this merger will have on the landscape of primary care in the State of Rhode Island.
In summation a long and diplomatic, but passionate, back-and-forth occurred at the Primary Care Physician's Advisory Committee between a regular panel of internists, family physicians, pediatricians and obstetricians directly querying the CEOs of Lifespan and Care New England. Scant evidence exists regarding the impact of hospital consolidation on access to care, but this evidence does support reduced access to care, which disproportionately affects minority citizens. Many of the questions asked of the individuals helming the merger probed issues of "balanced co-development" with the recognition that the merger is all but impossible to block at this stage. Hope towards the viability of primary care was instead directed at ensuring the leaders of the merger were made aware of the utility of primary care as the proven best modality of reducing cost and improving outcomes in the health care world and the marginalization of our field in planning the consolidation of tertiary and quaternary care centers will negatively effect all of us engaged in health. And we will not only be endangering the quality of patient care by reducing access, but this very reduction in access will further shift care to tertiary centers driving up cost and making the very merger that is proposed potentially less financially viable than intended.
If I may be so bold as to editorialize, I am not exclusively anti-merger. The merger will streamline administrative costs, and I believe objectively and diligently search for redundancy and waste in the system thereby saving cost. However the above noted implications for primary care are concerning and would potentially move us in a backward direction. Only through the "balanced co-development" of institutional focus and teaching of primary care, financial support and teaching in outpatient primary care centers (especially those engaged in GME) and increased cooperatively with the only remaining Brown University residency program (Family Medicine at Memorial Hospital) will the merged entity responsibly offer due diligence to a community of primary care physicians without whom continued reform and improvement in health care cannot be achieved.