KAFP represented well at AAFP Congress of Delegates

KAFP

Our four elected delegates recently represented the KAFP during AAFP’s Congress of Delegates Sept. 22-27, 2019 in Philadelphia, Penn. Jen Brull, MD, FAAFP of Plainville and Doug Gruenbacher, MD of Quinter served as delegates while Diane Steere, MD and Lynn Fisher, MD, FAAFP, both of Wichita, served as alternate delegates. All four provided testimony in support and opposition of a variety of resolutions and Drs. Brull and Gruenbacher voted to elect three candidates for the AAFP board of directors and for the president elect position.

For the first time in KAFP’s history, we gather input throughout the summer from the voting-eligible membership on a variety of topics, ensuring our delegates could accurately represent the opinions of the majority of members who responded to the surveys and outreach.

As you know, KAFP submitted a late resolution, asking the Congress of Delegates to reverse a 2018 decision taking an approach of engaged neutrality regarding medical aid in dying/physician assisted suicide to one of opposition of medical aid in dying/physician assisted suicide. Unfortunately, this resolution had to pass by two-thirds vote of delegates to be referred to committee and it did not pass. Additionally, KAFP submitted a resolution allowing physicians to use their language of choice related to medical aid in dying and/or physician assisted suicide. The Reference Committee on Advocacy referred this resolution the AAFP Board of Directors.

KAFP Board President, Sheryl Beard, MD, FAAFP of Andover said, “The most valuable thing we learned from this past year leading up to Congress, was how to engage members well. We felt like we were able to hear our members and bring their concerns forth. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, thank you to all who submitted opinions to the KAFP officers, delegates and staff. We were also able to learn about the process of submitting late resolutions. This is the first time in history that a late resolution was not heard by Congress, which was disappointing to say the least.”

To address this, Dr. Beard said, “We will again submit this resolution next year at the regular time, which prevents resolutions from being voted down.”

You can read all of the reference committee reports here (your AAFP login is required).

Although the outcomes of our submitted resolutions were not what KAFP had hoped for, association leaders are pleased to have so much membership engagement and input into the process. Thank you to our delegates, task force members, resolutions committee members and general members for participating in the democratic process. KAFP will employ a similar member engagement process for 2020 resolution submissions and in preparation for Congress of Delegates, which will be held Oct. 12-14 in Chicago, Ill.