Unlocking the Power of Member Interest Groups

At AAFP and MAFP inclusivity and providing a voice to all members are core principles. In the ever-evolving landscape of the family medicine specialty, Member Interest Groups (MIGs) have emerged as a dynamic way for members to connect. These groups have a unique purpose – to define, acknowledge, and provide dedicated support to members who share common professional interests. Tim Tobolic, MD, said MIGs can provide family physicians with an opportunity to discuss issues that affect them and their practices, in a flexible and convenient manner. “Busy family physicians usually don’t have time to participate in leadership activities, large meetings or serve on committees at the national or state level,” he said. “So MIGS provide another avenue for [family physicians] to voice their concerns or promote their ideas via email group chats without leaving their office or home.” 

Here is a look at MAFP MIG opportunities you can connect with.

Adolescent Health 
Foster collaboration, communication, and support among family physicians engaged in adolescent health when you join the Adolescent Health Member Interest Group (MIG). Strengthen the perception and integration of family medicine into the larger adolescent health discipline.

Breastfeeding Medicine 
Enhance members’ knowledge of breastfeeding medicine and support members caring for breastfeeding families.

Climate Change and Environmental Health 
Increase the understanding of the health harms of climate change and environmental degradation and the health benefits of climate solutions. 

Direct Primary Care
Increase awareness of the Direct Primary Care (DPC) model among family physicians and advocate for members who are currently practicing in this model or anticipate transitioning to it. 

Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care
Promote workforce policies, educational goals, and credentialing standards that are consistent with the AAFP policy on family physicians in emergency medicine. 

To serve as a resource for employed physicians by promoting discussion on issues relevant to physicians who are employed by physician groups or hospital systems. 

Home-based Primary Care 
To provide a forum for collaboration, idea sharing, and advocacy among members who are practicing or interested in home-based primary care. 

Hospital Medicine
Serve as a voice for family physicians who practice hospital medicine. Advocate for educational resources specific to hospital medicine. 

Independent Solo/Small Group Practice 
Advocate for members who practice in independent solo and small group practices and enable them to remain financially viable. 

Integrative Medicine 
To provide a forum for members to increase awareness of and interest in complementary therapies and integrative medicine and foster communication and dialogue among family physicians practicing integrative medicine. 

Intersectionality in Healthcare
To provide a forum for members to organize and advocate for healthcare equity, racial and social justice, and discuss implicit and explicit bias. 

Intimate Partner Violence
Advocate for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) awareness on local, state, and national levels to support advocacy, education, and public health measures that address IPV issues. 

Lifestyle Medicine
Increase networking opportunities for members who have a passion for improving health through the focus on a healthy lifestyle and foster communication and dialogue on debates in nutrition, fitness, and other self-care areas. Discuss evidence based lifestyle approaches to common conditions (e.g. obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, etc.) seen in family medicine.

Medical Aid in Dying
Serve as a resource for information about the practice of medical aid in dying and provide a community where members can share best practices, discuss challenging clinical cases, and enlist advice from colleagues. 

Obesity Medicine
Advocate for and disseminate information related to the management and improvement of chronic health conditions related to obesity by sharing with and learning from each other techniques that result in weight loss and/or prevent weight gain.

Obstetrics
Promote evidence-based practice in obstetrics and maternity care and help AAFP members integrate comprehensive maternity healthcare into their practices. 

Physicians for Life 
To provide a forum for pro-life members to collaborate and advance the education of members on beginning and end-of-life issues. 

Point-of-Care Ultrasound 
Work to improve access to education and resources to help incorporate Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) into family physicians' practices. 

Reproductive Healthcare 
Help members integrate comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including abortion and miscarriage management, into their practices. 

Rural Health 
Grow connections among members with a distinct interest in rural health, inclusive of rural practice topics and rural medical education issues. 

Single Payer Healthcare 
Investigate the current outlook on singlepayer financed healthcare among members when you join the Single Payer Healthcare Member Interest Group (MIG). Educate members on the ability of single payer financed healthcare to streamline and simplify patient care and improve family physicians' professional satisfaction by greatly decreasing administrative complexities and burdens. 

Technology Empowered Clinical Optimization
To support the AAFP in identifying emerging technologies to improve human interactions in the exam room and provide feedback on current and future Technology Empowered Clinical Optimization changes. 

Telehealth 
Provide education and support for the family medicine community on the many facets of Telehealth to enrich the practice of medicine and patient care.

Wilderness Medicine
Increase awareness of and interest in wilderness medicine among AAFP members, while fostering support for AAFP members interested in practicing wilderness medicine and connections among those already practicing wilderness medicine.

Here is a closer look at two MAFP members’ experiences with MIGs:

Mustafa Mark Hamed, MD, MBA, MPH, FAEMS, FAAFP 

"The [Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care] MIG allowed me to network with other EM practicing FPs to discuss best clinical practices, and learn about their unique experiences, and it also has empowered us to work with the AAFP to set achievable goals to help support EM practicing FPs. The MIG's leadership has been working closely with the AAFP to advocate for FPs working in rural EM. They have worked together to coordinate a position statement with ACEP in response to CMS' comments on the Rural Emergency Hospital rules. 

ACEP acknowledged that FM-trained physicians who practice EM are essential to rural EDs and that an REH led and staffed by an EM-practicing FP would be an ideal scenario, especially over a non-physician. FM residency-trained physicians bring more OB, peds, and mental health/addiction experience than any other physicians. These are usually lacking in many rural EDs, but having an FM trained Emergency Physician can help address these deficits. There is more interest in the MIG among residents and newer physicians so there's a renewed momentum to work on challenges that we face in our practices. For example, the AAFP has developed a paper that can be given to hospital credentialing committees detailing the depth of knowledge that FM residency curricula have. This, in addition to life-support certification courses, may be enough to satisfy many rural ED hospital credentialing committees that were considering allowing only EM residency-trained physicians to be eligible for working in the ED.”

Vijay Singh, MD, MS, MPH, FAAFP

“The AAFP Intimate Partner Violence MIG has an online discussion board and library of resources for evidence-based tools of identifying and responding to IPV. The MIG has created a network of AAFP members who can access resources on healthcare identification and response to IPV. I think that family medicine as a discipline can improve clinic- and team-based implementation of evidence-based guidelines to identify and respond to patients experiencing IPV. The MIG allows for online discussions of these topics, as well as an online library to share evidence-based practices on healthcare IPV screening. MAFP members who are interested in the topic of IPV can join the AAFP IPV MIG to access education and practice resources.”