President's Message

It also includes updates from commissions on future initiatives and strategic plans for the academy at a national level. National leaders including the next AAFP president elect and 3 new AAFP board members are also elected here. Each state chapter of the AAFP is represented at and participates directly in this conference, including our own Wisconsin (WAFP) state chapter.

Five WAFP leaders and board members attend including 2 delegates who may officially vote, 2 alternate delegates who may sit in for the lead delegates should they not be able to attend and myself, as current WAFP president, who joins as a non-voting observing member.

This year’s conference was especially compelling given the current state of medicine in our country and society, and several important issues were discussed. Highlights of these topics included a call for the following:

Increased primary care investment, including prioritization for primary care for our Medicare patients that includes fair patient coverage of services and reasonable compensation to the practice providing care for these patients. This also encompasses fair payment for annual medicare wellness visits and the ask that the Centers for Medicare Services (CMS) more explicitly recognize that the “the primary care physician and their care team” are the best positioned specialty to conduct medicare annual wellness visits.

• Prior authorization reform including the ask that peer-to-peer reviewers be board-certified physicians in the same field and scope of practice for which they are providing the review
• Advocacy for  “affordable, comprehensive, evidence-based obesity management,” including the use of GLP-1 agonist medications and breaking down access barriers (oftentimes financial) that some medically eligible patients may have in obtaining this class of medication
• Responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine to benefit both the physician (in terms of increased diagnostic accuracy, reducing administrative and documentation burden) and the patient (in terms of personalizing and improving the efficiency and accuracy of care), while also keeping patient privacy, potential physician liability and cost/quality of care at top of mind
• Keeping Family Medicine and Family Physicians as the voice of reason in medicine. This can be hard with all of the medical misinformation and politicization of medicine at this time. Ideas include working with other professional medical associations (e.g. American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases Society of America, etc.) to fill in the gaps in data and to be more visible in educating our patients, communities and society in regard to critical public health topics that are currently diminished by reduced funding to the CDC
• Supporting and advocating unequivocally for evidence-based vaccine policies including an “urgent call for bold and visible advocacy to uphold scientific integrity, rebuilt public trust and hold HHS accountable.”

Attending meetings like this and working with like-minded colleagues who are passionate about the field of Family Medicine and in caring for our patients and communities in the best way possible, really reminds me of why I chose to pursue a career in family medicine. We are truly uniquely positioned to make a positive difference in society with our comprehensive, relationship-based and continuity focused care, and we should all strive to do this as much as we are able. Our professoi and our patients deserve it.

You can learn more about what was specifically addressed at this year’s AAFP Congress of Delegates by visiting the following links:

• Congress of Delegates adopts measures to strengthen physicians and patient health | Inside the Academy
• AAFP Congress of Delegates | AAFP

If you log in to the Governance Information Center on the AAFP Congress of delegates website , you can view all current AAFP policies and resolutions, including which states have sponsored or co-sponsored these proceedings.

The next Congress of Delegates will take place in October 2026 in Nashville, TN. As the state chapter representing Family Physicians throughout the state of Wisconsin, we welcome submission of any future resolutions for consideration at this meeting from our Wisconsin membership at large. Watch out for future calls for resolution proposals in the upcoming year if this is something you would like to get more involved with in the future. The process of formulating and writing a resolution may seem daunting, but the WAFP does have resources to help you with this if interested:

• How to Write a Resolution

Another way to get involved is to serve on the WAFP Board of Directors or the WAFP-Foundation (WAFP-F) Board. The WAFP-F is the philanthropic fund-raising arm of our academy. There are several open spots for consideration on either board at this time, and nominations end today Wednesday 10/15/2025. We are looking for students, residents and practicing physicians to apply and let their leadership skills shine. The application process is quick and easy using our online form the can be found at the following links:

• WAFP Board of Directors Nomination Form 
• WAFP-Foundation (WAFP-F) Board of Directors Nomination Form

Thank you for your commitment to Family Medicine and to our profession–our patients and communities need you now more than ever!