title: Health is primary: Family medicine for America's health.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  More than a decade ago the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, American Board of Family Medicine, Association of Departments of Family Medicine, Association of Family Practice Residency Directors, North American Primary Care Research Group, and Society of Teachers of Family Medicine came together in the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) to launch a series of strategic efforts to "renew the specialty to meet the needs of people and society," some of which bore important fruit. Family Medicine for America's Health was launched in 2013 to revisit the role of family medicine in view of these changes and to position family medicine with new strategic and communication plans to create better health, better health care, and lower cost for patients and communities (the Triple Aim).
  
  
  METHODS
  Family Medicine for America's Health was preceded and guided by the development of a family physician role definition. A consulting group facilitated systematic strategic plan development over 9 months that included key informant interviews, formal stakeholder surveys, future scenario testing, a retreat for family medicine organizations and stakeholder representatives to review strategy options, further strategy refinement, and finally a formal strategic plan with draft tactics and design for an implementation plan. A second communications consulting group surveyed diverse stakeholders in coordination with strategic planning to develop a communication plan. The American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians joined the effort, and students, residents, and young physicians were included.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The core strategies identified include working to ensure broad access to sustained, primary care relationships; accountability for increasing primary care value in terms of cost and quality; a commitment to helping reduce health care disparities; moving to comprehensive payment and away from fee-for-service; transformation of training; technology to support effective care; improving research underpinning primary care; and actively engaging patients, policy makers, and payers to develop an understanding of the value of primary care. The communications plan, called Health is Primary, will complement these strategies. Eight family medicine organizations have pledged nearly $20 million and committed representatives to a multiyear implementation team that will coordinate these plans in a much more systematic way than occurred with FFM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family Medicine for America's Health is a new commitment by 8 family medicine organizations to strategically align work to improve practice models, payment, technology, workforce and education, and research to support the Triple Aim. It is also a humble invitation to patients and to clinical and policy partners to collaborate in making family medicine even more effective.
authors.affiliation: The American Board of Family Medicine, Washington, DC bphillips@theabfm.org.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: American Academy of Family Physicians, Leawood, Kansas.
authors.forename: Perry A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pugno
authors.affiliation: Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, Leawood, Kansas, and Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences Center, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Saultz
authors.affiliation: Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, Leawood, Kansas, and Swedish Family Medicine-First Hill, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Tuggy
authors.affiliation: Association of Departments of Family Medicine, Leawood, Kansas, and Department of Family Medicine, Alpert Medical School/Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Borkan
authors.affiliation: Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, Leawood, Kansas, Family Medicine-Mercy Hospital St Louis, and Department of Family and Community Medicine, St Louis University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Grant S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Hoekzema
authors.affiliation: North American Primary Care Research Group, Leawood, Kansas, and OCHIN, Oregon Health Sciences University Department of Family Medicine, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: DeVoe
authors.affiliation: American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, Leawood, Kansas, Family Health Care Center, Reading Hospital Family Medicine Residency, Reading, Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Jane A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Weida
authors.affiliation: American Board of Family Medicine, Leawood, Kansas.
authors.forename: Lars E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
authors.forename: Lauren S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, Leawood, Kansas, and Southern Illinois University HealthCare at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois.
authors.forename: Jerry E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Kruse
authors.affiliation: American Board of Family Medicine, Leawood, Kansas.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Puffer
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D011050:Policy Making; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000639:trends; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States
keywords: delivery of health care; health care economics and organizations; health services research; primary health care; quality of health care