Connections, Quality CME Bring FPs Back to FMX
Oct. 1, 2024, David Mitchell (Phoenix) — In this desert city where temperatures consistently hit triple digits for a week, the hot topic last week wasn’t the weather but rather family medicine.
Roughly 8,000 people gathered here Sept. 24-28 during the Family Medicine Experience for its evidence-based CME, a packed expo hall and opportunities to reconnect with old friends and make new connections with peers or even future employers.
Family docs talked to AAFP News about what brought them to Phoenix and what keeps bringing them back to FMX. Here is what they shared.
Investing in Her Future
Traveling across the country for FMX was nothing new for Minelva Donato, M.D., Ph.D. The new wrinkle in the itinerary for the Ridgefield, Conn., family physician was paying additional fees to participate in six procedural workshops.
“It’s a big investment,” Donato said Sept. 27 during a workshop focused on the placement and removal of long-acting contraceptives, “but I trust the training here. It can be hard to find trustworthy CME, but the AAFP makes it easy. I know I’m going to get good quality here.”
Donato also made time for workshops focused on manual medicine, acne treatment, joint injections, botulinum toxin injections and electrocardiogram interpretation.
“I opened a private practice last year,” Donato said. “I’m moving toward direct primary care in January. I want to be able to offer as much as possible to my patients without referring them out to specialists and making them wait a long time to get care.”
Minelva Donato, M.D., Ph.D., participates in an FMX workshop on placing and removing long-acting contraceptives.
Pritpal Singh, D.O., tries his hand at a game of Giant Operation with colleague Samuel Balk, M.D.
Fun and Games
Ahja Steele, M.D., and Leila Patterson, M.D., graduated from Advocate Medical Group Family Medicine Residency last year and work for different clinics in the same Chicago health care system. The new physicians, who started attending FMX as residents, made their third trip to the event this year.
“I love the Xchange,” Patterson said Sept. 26 during a break from video games in GSK’s exhibit. “It’s my favorite thing. We’ve seen friends from med school, residency and our company. It’s nice to network and meet new people. I love this conference. We have so much access to CME, and it’s up to date. That’s what we need as community docs.”
Mary Fisher, M.D., a direct primary care doctor from Alameda, Calif., and Julia Marx, M.D., who practices in a multispecialty clinic in Los Altos, Calif., could have been mistaken for reunited residency friends while working on a 30-level game of Giant Jenga Sept. 25 during the grand opening of the Xchange. Actually, they met earlier that day through a mutual friend.
“Look at us networking,” Fisher quipped.
Marx attended FMX 2023 in Chicago, which she said was “outstanding.”
“The quality of the education and the lack of bias was excellent,” she said. “I wanted to come back and get a lot of education at one time.”
Nearby, Tracy Frandsen, M.D., was standing on the board of a Giant Battleship game along with his 13-year-old grandson. Frandsen retired four years ago, but the Spanish Fork, Utah, family doc volunteers at a free clinic in Provo.
“I was a full-scope family physician with OB, orthopedics, urgent care — everything I was trained to do,” said Frandsen, who was visiting family in Arizona. “I want to keep my specialty certification. I needed 10 hours of CME. Since I was here, it was a great fit.”
Pritpal Singh, D.O., of Dallas, completed residency more than 20 years ago, but he was attending his first FMX with colleague Samuel Balk, M.D., of Eagar, Ariz.
Joy Martinez, M.D., prepares to toss her plate, on which she wrote a frustration, into the Smash Zone.
“I’ve seen colleagues I haven’t seen for years,” Singh said during a game of Giant Operation. “I wanted to see what it’s like. I’m here through Saturday. I’m going to experience it all.”
Singh’s favorite thing from Sept. 25 was mainstage speaker Air Force Col. Nicole Malachowski, the first female Thunderbird pilot.
“She was inspiring,” he said. “She drew parallels between her profession and what we do as FPs. You can’t get distracted. You have to go after your dreams.”
Meanwhile in the food court, the Smash Zone invited attendees to write their frustrations on a plate and then (with eye protection in place) throw it on the floor.
“It was fun, cathartic,” said Edith Ang, M.D., of Danville, Calif., who shared the experience Sept. 26 with residency friend Joy Martinez, M.D., of San Diego.
So, what did Ang write on her ill-fated plate?
“A lot of stuff you can’t say at work,” she said with a laugh.
Frank Domino, M.D., talks with host Emily Holwick during a taping of the Inside Family Medicine podcast in the Xchange.
On the Air
Frank Domino, M.D., an FMX staple for two decades, made an appearance in the Xchange for a Sept. 26 taping of an upcoming episode of the Inside Family Medicine podcast.
Sanjay Batish, M.D., FAAFP, who was the next guest on the podcast’s recording slate, was eager to meet the mainstage speaker.
“I’ve got to go shake Frank Domino’s hand,” said Batish, a practice owner in Leland, N.C., and former scholar in the Family Medicine Discovers Rapid Cycle Scientific Discovery and Innovation program. “He’s a rock star.”
Batish’s father, Dharam Batish, M.D., FAAFP, of East Liverpool, Ohio, retired from family medicine practice two years ago at age 80.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid,” Batish said. “It’s like coming home. I’m getting CME and connecting with colleagues and friends.”
FMX offered 329 live sessions on 180 topics. Batish’s favorite? A session on management of chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.
“It was really well-done and with a complicated topic,” he said.
Almost as intriguing as Frank Domino and CKD?
Self-driving ride services.
“I loved the Waymo taxis,” Batish said of the autonomous, electric and seemingly ubiquitous vehicles. “Those are so cool!”
On the Other Side
Family physician Jennifer Bacani McKenney, M.D., FAAFP, found herself on the other side of a booth during FMX, exhibiting her Remote Scribe service.
“I know how I feel walking through an expo hall and knowing who I want to talk to and what I’m looking for,” said Bacani, who practices in rural Fredonia, Kan., with her father. “I don’t want to be overbearing, but I also want them to know I’m a family physician, too, and I can be helpful.”
Bacani said she felt overwhelmed in 2011 following the birth of a child and death of a practice partner. A colleague suggested she hire a scribe, but Bacani was reluctant to bring another person into her exam rooms. Instead, she started a service where a scribe listens to office visits online. In addition to documentation, the remote scribe can prepare charts and place orders and prescriptions.
“When a friend asked me why I wasn’t burned out and angry, I knew I had to share this service,” she said. “It works in my small private practice. It can work for anyone. It feels weird to solicit your friends, and even strangers, but I want people to know this works.”
Jennifer Bacani McKenney, M.D., FAAFP, second from right, poses in front of her booth during the grand opening of the Xchange with friends, from left, Marie-Elizabeth Ramas, M.D., FAAFP; AAFP President-elect Sarah Nosal, M.D., FAAFP; past AAFP President Ada Stewart, M.D., FAAFP; and Shani Muhammad, M.D., FAAFP.
Boyd Southwick, D.O., left, pauses for a photo with his son Derek Southwick, M.D., during a break at the Congress of Delegates.
Like Father, Like Son
Boyd Southwick, D.O., has attended nearly every FMX in the past two decades, going back to when the event was called Scientific Assembly, but he had never attended the AAFP’s Congress of Delegates. He accepted the opportunity to serve in the Sept. 23-25 COD this year along with son Derek Southwick, M.D., a first-year resident at Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency, who served as a student delegate.
“We had a delegate retire so we had a position open, and I gladly stepped in,” said Boyd Southwick, who has served on the Idaho AFP’s Board since 2006. “How often does a dad get to serve in Congress with his son?”
The father and son are accustomed to working together and hope to again. Derek was the student member of the Idaho AFP Board of Directors when his father was chapter president in 2019-20.
“He got me started in advocacy at the state level,” Derek Southwick said. “Now I’ve got him involved at the national level.”
Boyd Southwick is one of three partners in a family medicine practice in Idaho Falls.
“I will be the fourth, hopefully,” said Derek, whose traveling party also included his mother, wife and two young children. Boyd Southwick said he planned to get 20 to 25 hours of CME at FMX, while Derek planned to spend time in the Xchange. “We like to explore the host city we’re in,” Boyd said. “Chicago was great last year, just like Philadelphia and D.C. before that.”
Around the World
Fay Homan, M.D., has served in the Congress of Delegates, but she didn’t travel 2,600 miles for COD or FMX. Homan, a consultant for the AAFP Foundation’s Family Medicine Cares International initiative, was on hand for the Global Health Summit, a Sept. 22-23 preconference.
Homan, of Wells River, Vt., has made three trips to the Dominican Republic, where FMCI volunteers hold a symposium for family medicine residents and medical students, provide patient care and work on service projects aimed at improving the lives and health of children. She came to Phoenix to hear from her peers.
“It’s inspiring to hear about what people are doing all over the world,” Homan said Sept. 23. “You can make connections here with people you might be able to work with in the future. You hear different perspectives on global health.”
The Foundation’s next trip to the Dominican Republic is Feb. 15-22.
Awards and Recognition
Nearly 200 family physicians who exemplify the values of the specialty received the Degree of Fellow Sept 27, while more than 200 young doctors gathered to take part in the Chief Resident Leadership Development program. The Academy also honored seven physicians for their outstanding contributions to family medicine and the health of the public. And a dozen outstanding residents were recognized with the Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education during a mainstage event.
Marielle Jamgochian, M.D., of Point Pleasant, N.J., was among the GME Award winners. Jamgochian said she enjoyed attending the New Physician Happy Hour and an after-hours gathering of the chief residents.
“I loved getting to know my peers and trading stories, learning more about the future and what’s to come,” she said. “I was in med school during COVID, so I’m really excited to be here at my first conference. I’m really enjoying the CME.”
AAFP President Jen Brull, M.D., FAAFP, and EVP/CEO Shawn Martin, center, share the main stage with winners of the Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education.
Sheila Thomas, M.D., FAAFP, of Memphis completed residency in 1993 and has been faculty at Baptist Memphis Family Medicine Residency for seven years. She was among those to receive the Degree of Fellow.
“I’ve been a family physician for a long time,” she said. “I decided it was time to go through the process. I’ve been doing the work that needed to be done, so why not have the title so people know I’m contributing to our specialty?”
What was it like being recognized with nearly 200 of her peers?
“It was fantastic,” she said.
“We all believe in family medicine as a model that can improve health care in the whole world,” she said. “We get a little divorced from that in practice with computer work, insurance restrictions and prior authorizations in the day-to-day work that pulls us away from what’s inspiring about family medicine. When you go somewhere that people are building family medicine from the ground level, it reminds you what a great specialty this is.”
See You Next Year!
FMX 2025 will be in Anaheim, Calif., Oct. 5-9.