AAFP Embarks On Multimillion-Dollar Branding Campaign Emphasizing Importance Of Family Medicine In National Health Care Debate

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 04 Oct 2007 - 20:00 PST

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The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has inaugurated a strategic branding campaign to highlight the importance of family medicine in the national conversation on health care reform.

This week the AAFP launched a $5-million dollar, advertising campaign promoting the fact that a patient-centered approach to health care leads to better disease prevention, better coordinated care and a healthier public, as well as decreased costs. The first year of the campaign begins this week with placements in national daily newspapers, and continues with print and broadcast advertisements.

The ads will feature the AAFP's new logo, also unveiled this week, which replaces the organization's seal - last updated in 1971. "The new logo visually signifies the evolution of the organization's approach as the nation's advocate for family doctors," said Donna Valponi, AAFP Vice President of Marketing, Membership and Meetings.

The new logo features a variation on the staff of Aesculapius commonly used to symbolize the practice and profession of medicine. Where the traditional symbol features a serpent-entwined staff, referring to the ancient Greco-Roman god of medicine, the new AAFP logo replaces the staff with a torch. The torch is symbolic of life, knowledge, principle and leadership and represents the AAFP as the progressive, forward-thinking organization it is.

2007 marks the AAFP's 60th anniversary. Since its founding, the AAFP has been instrumental in promoting and maintaining high quality standards for family doctors. However, throughout the past decade family physicians have faced an increasingly challenging environment in which to practice medicine.

"The AAFP has always been a champion on behalf of its members and their patients," said Rick Kellerman, MD, AAFP Board Chair. "Just as the practice of medicine changes constantly, the AAFP is always honing its efforts to communicate the value of family physicians. This new campaign expresses the AAFP's commitment to play a central role in reforming the health care system for the benefit of all."

During the next two years, the AAFP will carry out a multifaceted campaign designed to aggressively communicate the value of family physicians in the nation's health care system. In the public sector, the AAFP will advise state and federal governments that a strong, primary-care-based system will provide access to health care for all Americans. In the private sector, the AAFP will actively demonstrate to employers and insurers that patient-centered care results in higher quality and more cost effective health care.

Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents nearly 94,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to general and family physicians. That is 207 million office visits each year - 62 million more than to any other medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America's underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine's cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the American Academy of Family physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit http://www.aafp.org.