MAFP Representatives: (left to right) John Paulson, DO, President; Bill Plank, Assistant Executive Director; Todd Shaffer, MD, Delegate; Peter Koopman, MD, Alternate Delegate; Keith Ratcliff, MD, Delegate; Kathy Pabst, Executive Director. Not Pictured: Kate Lichtenberg, DO, Alternate Delegate
MAFP Report on 2020 Congress of Delegates
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Keith Ratcliff, MD, FAAFP Washington
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his has been a challenging year for many aspects of medicine, and the 2020 AAFP Congress of Delegates (COD) proved to be no exception to this. Your MAFP delegation, appointed by the Board of Directors, included Keith Ratcliff, MD and Todd Shaffer, MD as Delegates and Kate Lichtenberg, DO and Peter Koopman, MD as Alternate Delegates. MAFP President John Paulson, DO, PhD, was available to attend COD this year and assist with deliberations of the Delegation. Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the AAFP wisely decided on a virtual format for the COD this year. Planning started very early with the appointment of Congress Committees that began doing their work virtually. Dr. Ratcliff was chosen to serve on the Rules Committee which was required to modify our usual processes to accommodate a virtual meeting. Chapters were asked to submit a maximum of two resolutions this year so that all would be able to have their most pressing concerns represented. With the guidance of the Speaker and Vice-Speaker,
MISSOURI FAMILY PHYSICIAN January - March 2021
new rules were promulgated and approved so that the Congress could convene in a virtual format. Plans were laid for the Reference Committees to meet virtually and hear testimony from the Members and Delegations the two weekends prior to the COD. AAFP staff had chosen Lumi as the vendor through which to conduct our business and voting. After resolutions were provided, your delegation reviewed them, and they were presented to the MAFP Board for comments and guidance. The Board participated in a detailed survey to help your delegation understand which issues were most important for our members, and for guidance on how to best represent the perspective of Missouri’s Family Physicians. To effectively discuss and vote on resolutions and election of officers for the AAFP in real time, the MAFP Delegation decided on a “hybrid” model. Kathy Pabst, MAFP Executive Director and Bill Plank, Assistant Executive Director, were able to arrange a meeting room where your Delegation
