Who: Dr. Wanda Filer, 56
New role: President of the American Academy of Family Physicians, which has about 120,900 members.
Background: Filer is a family physician in York, Pa., and has practiced family medicine for more than 25 years. She most recently served as AAFP's president-elect and previously served three years as a director on the organization's board. She's also founder and president of the Strategic Health Institute, a York-based healthcare consulting firm, and a doctor at Family First Health, a federally qualified health center serving York and Adams counties.
Efficiency via coordinated care: “What we've found in this country is that as you fragment care, the patient gets lost. It's a huge issue where we see significant duplicative, unnecessary and potentially harmful care.”
Move training out of inpatient care: “Family physicians do 1 out of 5 U.S. office visits. How do you train physicians in an arena they're most likely to practice? That's not in a hospital environment anymore.”
Busy work: “For too long, family physicians have sort of been on a hamster wheel. We're dealing with a lot of 'administrivia:' checking boxes, clunky EHRs, things that are interfering with our ability to do quality care and spend more time with patients.” The AAFP is advocating for value-based care and more on-site care coordinators.
