News: Get to Know Your AAP 2009 President-Elect Candidates
O. Marion Burton, MD, FAAP; Columbia, SC
Dr. Burton, a community pediatrician, is Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Director of Community Pediatrics at University of South Carolina (USC) School of Medicine.
A graduate of Clemson University and Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), he trained at MUSC and Medical College of Georgia. For two decades he practiced pediatrics in Anderson, SC and taught in a local primary care residency program. In 1991 he joined USC School of Medicine to establish a Division of Community Pediatrics. He oversees the 210 physician multi-specialty group, conducts faculty locum tenens programs for rural pediatricians, and is senior medical consultant to the state’s public health and Medicaid agencies. He helped establish 75 partnerships placing public health professionals with practicing physicians to create medical homes for children. His group cares for children in University Primary Care offices, the SC Juvenile Justice System and special health care needs clinics.
Past President of the SC Medical Association and SC Pediatric Society, he chairs the AAP AMA Delegation. His AAP service includes Chapter and District CATCH Facilitator, national DCF chairperson, and the Task Force on Committees and Sections. He also chaired the Council on Committees, attending AAP Board of Directors and Advisory Committee to the Board on Committees and Sections meetings (as a voting member).
Recognitions include the Abraham Jacobi Award for long-term national contributions to pediatrics and National Army Guard Flight Surgeon of the Year for excellence in care for military flight crews.
Dr. Burton and his wife, Debbie, have six children and six grandchildren.
Position Statement
I support AAP’s commitment to have children receive quality care in medical homes that promote optimal child health, reduce disparities and contribute to health equity while eliminating financial barriers. We must remain engaged with health care reform involving children and seize opportunities to continuing successes.
Generational poverty, a denominator for inequities/disparities, is increasing. The new Administration’s CHIP legislation and commitment to health insurance for all children have advanced the Academy’s strategic plan, allowing additional focus on inequities such as poverty. I know from my patients’ experiences that caring for children in medical homes, linked to community resources, lessens poverty’s negative influence on growth, development, health, and well-being.
Linking medical homes with community resources requires practice expenses not reflected in E & M code payments. The Academy has gained recognition of care oversight/coordination as distinct services. To support pediatricians, the AAP must assure codes are assigned appropriate values/payment.
We must secure adequate pediatric specialist payments. Fees below Medicare benchmarks reduce their ability to accept medical home referrals.
Medical homes support immunizations, but vaccine shortages and inadequate payments remain challenges. AAP’s continued work on this priority is important.
Bright Futures-focused medical homes excel in value-based reimbursement/pay-for-performance measures. Academy input in defining pediatric performance measures is essential, and AAP efforts to identify pediatric-friendly and interconnected electronic health records will facilitate reporting.
If elected to lead, I will pursue my passion for medical homes using the Academy’s strategic plan to correct disparities, achieve health equity, insure all children and support the value of pediatricians.
Anne B. Francis, MD, FAAP; Rochester, NY
Anne B. Francis, MD, FAAP, is senior partner of the Elmwood Pediatric Group, an 8-pediatrician practice in Rochester, NY, which celebrated 62 years in operation this year. She recently stepped down as managing partner after 22 years in that role. During that time she was actively involved in office based research as well as teaching medical students and residents. She is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and also serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Dr. Francis is the Chair of the Private Payer Advocacy Advisory Committee as well as past Chair of the AAP Section on Administration and Practice Management (SOAPM). While she was Chair of SOAPM, the SOAPM listserv was created, the practice managers’ listserv (a virtual pediatric practice managers group) was initiated, the SOAPM newsletter was expanded, and Practice Management Online was launched. She currently serves as the Chair of the editorial board for Practice Management Online and is a member of the AAP Obesity Leadership Workgroup. She is District II NY State Treasurer and was President of NY Chapter 1. She has represented the AAP at various meetings with major insurers and is a spokesperson on vaccine finance issues, the medical home, and obesity issues.
She is married to Dr. Charles Francis, Professor of Medicine (Hematology), at the University of Rochester. They have three children and one granddaughter.
Position Statement
It’s time for the AAP to move from paper into the electronic age on all fronts and also to help its members in making that change. Medical home initiatives, children’s healthcare via telemedicine, communication between specialists and primary care pediatricians, our practices and our paychecks are all linked to the future electronic medical platform. Electronic medical records for all children will be necessary to provide quality continuous healthcare especially in our increasingly mobile society.
To provide for this future pediatric electronic platform, we as an Academy must:
- Insist that the initial and maintenance cost of electronic medical record systems be affordable within the medical home/practice setting
- Ensure that children have electronic medical records which are accessible, consistent, intact, portable, and protected
- Ensure that these electronic medical records are integrated with other aspects of the medical home functions such as practice management, communications with consultants, quality, and vaccine registries
To achieve these goals, the Academy must educate and support its members. We must develop methods to help evaluate electronic medical records and provide on-going support to assist our members through the transition. We need dedicated information technology staff at the Academy both for member support and policy development. We must ensure that children are included in potential stimulus funding for implementation of the electronic medical record and platform. Finally, we need systems which are designed to serve as the source of information for future evidence-based medicine, ongoing quality improvement, and outcomes research.
