ACP honors outstanding chapter activities with John Tooker Evergreen Awards

ACP presented John Tooker Evergreen Awards to six chapters at Internal Medicine 2012. The John Tooker Evergreen Awards Program provides recognition and visibility to chapters that have successfully implemented programs to increase membership, improve communication, increase member involvement, enhance diversity, foster careers in internal medicine and improve management of the chapter. Following is a list of the chapter winners, the titles of their programs and the categories of submission. For more information on a particular program, contact Kirsten Kirby.

Advocacy

Florida for Opposition to Unconstitutional Impingement on Physician Free Speech

Collaborating with the Florida Medical Association, the Florida Chapter fought to defeat legislation dictating physicians' ability to ask questions about the presence of guns in the home. Through their strong efforts, the bill was significantly weakened and is currently enjoined pending hearings on its constitutionality.

Associates/Young Physicians

Minnesota for Peer Judging of Posters at Annual State Chapter Meeting

Seeking to increase the engagement of younger members, the Minnesota Chapter implemented a peer judging system for posters at the annual chapter meeting. The Chapter Council felt the peer judging format increased the level of engagement of poster presenters, increased the willingness of community physicians to serve as moderator/judges, and increased the number of poster presenters at the subsequent meeting; a chapter record 170 abstracts were submitted.

Collaboration (new category for 2012)

Illinois Downstate/Pennsylvania for Developing Southern Illinois and Pennsylvania LEADers

Recognizing they shared a similar goal, the Governors of Illinois Downstate and Pennsylvania led a collaborative effort to host a series of webinars focused on leadership development. This joint effort allowed the chapters to secure prominent national speakers and empowered them to reach a greater number of developing leaders.

Medical Students

Arizona for Developing a Statewide ACP Arizona Medical Student Committee

In 2009, the Arizona Chapter decided to form a Medical Student Committee. One of the main areas of focus has been the creation of a state-wide journal club hosted via videoconferencing. This engages all medical students around a medical topic of interest to share basic science and clinical science updates with each other in the presence of faculty mentors who can serve as content experts, resources and mentors.

Membership Recruitment/Diversity

Maryland for Meeting the Needs of our International Medical Graduate ACP Members

The Maryland Chapter's International Medical Graduate Committee was chartered approximately eight years ago. In collaboration with the Chapter's Young Physician Council, the IMG Committee created several workshops on topics including “A Legal Seminar for Physicians” and “The ABC's of Visas and Contracts.” In addition to organizing these workshops, the IMG Committee worked to develop resource materials specifically for IMGs/FMGS.

Patient Safety, Quality & Cost-Conscious Care (new category for 2012)

Texas for Texas Medical Home Initiative

The Texas Medical Home Initiative emphasizes four key components: expanding patient access and engagement, improving chronic condition population management through use of patient registries, providing team-based care, and monitoring performance on key quality/utilization measures. By engaging all stakeholders and sharing data and best practices with the goal of delivering high-quality, coordinated care in the patient-centered medical home model, the Texas Chapter is experiencing success with its initiative.

Special Recognition Awards

In addition to the John Tooker Evergreen winners, ACP is giving special recognition to four chapters for their efforts to implement new programs in their chapter:

California Southern Region II for Medical Bingo

Central America for How to Increase Revenue and Membership

Saudi Arabia for Etiquette-Based Medicine

South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and Nebraska for Regional SWAN Scientific Meeting