Our elected leaders are currently discussing tremendous potential change to our health care system, a system that by most any measure is itself very ill. Some changes will be viewed as adjustments in the way we utilize emerging technologies, advances in medicine, and other “routine” enhancements to the practice of medicine. These are the sorts of changes that both patients and health care providers typically have been able to adopt with relative ease.
Other changes will be more difficult to understand, accept, and ultimately implement. They will be sweeping in nature, requiring vast intersections of knowledge, skills, and complicated systems that health care professionals and those who support them are just now beginning to identify.
There are also paradigm shifts, such as those associated with the move to managed care in the early 1980s when new ways to pay for treatment emerged. They introduced a new participant— the third-party payer—into the traditional providerpatient relationship. Paradigm shifts take a good deal more time to get used to as we adjust to new processes, procedures, and programs and new roles for caregivers.
And there are those shifts that are truly transformative, shifts that move entire systems. At present, we are experiencing multiple movements like this across many sectors that touch our lives. We have all been affected, some dramatically, by transformations in the role of economic institutions, and we do not have to look any further than recent election results to recognize that our political landscape has undergone a major transformation. Technology has and will continue to radically transform the way PAs treat patients and how all medical professionals learn, allowing, even demanding, communication at lightning speed and bringing otherwise unavailable resources and expertise to patient care.
Transformation of our health care system should be welcomed by PAs, a profession that has undergone many changes itself in its 41-year history. PAs have been leaders in change while remaining grounded in their focused commitment to patient-centered care and dedication to lifelong learning. Commitment and dedication have transformed the work of the PA from just a profession into a movement extending the reach of medicine and the promise of health care to individuals and communities when and where it is needed most. Individuals exploring careers as health care professionals today have countless options. Once introduced to the culture of the PA profession and the passion behind the movement, a person will not take long to understand why interest in the profession continues to grow at a remarkable rate.
AAPA is committed to providing the kind of leadership that not only ensures professional growth and personal excellence for PAs but also recognizes that a successful transformation of our nation's health care system will become a reality only with an expanded, robust utilization of PAs.
The AAPA aspires to be not only the leader in providing support and advocacy for PAs but also the primary organization advancing the profession, a premier participant in health care transformation, and a passionate champion of patientcentered care. To do that, we must not only be aware of the rapidly and radically changing health care landscape; we must also be among the leadership shaping that change, transforming ourselves and the movement we represent.
Last year, the AAPA board and senior management initiated a 3-year strategic planning process to define the priorities and focus of the Academy's resources. Among the outcomes of that process was a rebranding effort, a program to create a symbolic embodiment of AAPA in the minds of members and the public at large and to increase its worth or equity over time. The most visible aspects of the brand are a new logo and tagline. The new logo and tagline will be seen across a rebuilt Web site, a new publication, and a range of other materials. A brand is not only a logo. It is also a contract with members and the public, a promise of excellence and commitment against which to measure performance.
The new brand is one of the ways we will be transforming AAPA to meet growing member needs and the manner in which we represent and position the PA movement with its most important audiences. We are dedicated to ensuring that a voice for PAs is heard when health care policy changes are considered and implemented.
But logos and taglines are just visual and verbal representations. What we do and how well we do it are the true measures of transformation from profession to movement. And with the intense dedication of all PAs, patients' growing trust, and legislative recognition of the transformative role PAs play in health care, that movement will continue to grow.
The introduction of the PA profession into our health care system some 41 years ago required a revolution in thinking and systems, a boldness and courage by the founders and early pioneers of the profession. The AAPA is committed to providing the profession with the leadership, tools, and strategy to act boldly. By their nature, movements are revolutionary and transformative. What a privilege we have been afforded at this time in the history of our profession and the nation to ignite the PA movement and transform care. JAAPA
Bill Leinweber is executive vice president/CEO of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Alexandria, Virginia.