2023 Recap: Building Momentum

Bringing physicians together to stand up for the sacred patient-physician relationship

December 2023

Dear Medicine Forward Community,

Thank you for your partnership in joining together as a community of change leaders to raise our voices to improve healthcare. We are steadfast in our mission to bring physicians together to stand up for the sacred patient-physician relationship (love the photo below of Dr. Otten making a housecall to visit a former patient!).

The national backdrop for healthcare in the United States continues to prioritize profits over people, which undermines equitable care for communities and creates less-than-ideal working conditions inside large health care organizations. There are so many glimmers of positive activity to change that landscape across hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals who are working together to make a better future a reality. 

This message serves as the Medicine Forward 2023 end-of-year recap and a springboard for our initiatives in 2024. It is a bit longer than the monthly news we will be sharing in the coming year. So many great connections and collaborations happened over these past 12-months, which sets the stage for deeper and broader work in 2024.

Our ask of you:

1. Engage Actively: Share what you are doing and reach out to others to ask for help. Medicine Forward is first and foremost a community of support. We can connect each other to resources and ideas that will help each member be energized and find a great next step to make a positive difference. Use our Mighty Networks platform to connect or reach out via email at info@medicineforward.org and please renew your annual membership to stay connected.

2. Support Our Shared Cause: Make a donation to Medicine Forward. We are 100% volunteer-driven and need your support to continue to build the movement. We are developing 2024 funding proposals that include plans for a national convening of physician change leaders and sponsorship of a documentary on physician well-being.

3. Volunteer Your Time: Volunteer to participate in one of our key initiatives in 2024 (welcoming new members, hosting a monthly informal virtual community networking meeting, organizing a virtual Town Hall, and more). Please reach out to let us know if you are interested to learn more.

We are grateful for the breadth and depth of commitment and collaboration in our shared work — and look forward to increasing the impact of the Medicine Forward community in the coming year.

Thank you,

Gabe Charbonneau, MD, Co-founder
Todd Otten, MD, Impact Officer
Lisa Scardina, Strategy and Implementation Officer

MEDICINE FORWARD 2023 YEAR-IN-REVIEW

Backdrop

Medicine Forward was founded as a grassroots non-profit organization of physicians to catalyze positive changes in medicine that will improve healthcare today and for future generations. We are a federation of change leaders coming together to support personal and system transformation with a focus on raising the physician voice and fighting burnout. We connect change leaders to advance personal and system transformation. 

Some highlights from 2023

• Town Hall Event with Gabe Bosslet, MD on the Good Trouble organization in Indiana.

• Town Hall Event with Aaron Goodman, MD on the need to overhaul Maintenance of Certification required by ABIM.

• Participation in a Clarity Circle with Unlimited Boundaries, energizing the Medicine Forward vision.

• Presentation at the Healthcare Burnout conference in Los Angeles and the launch of a tool to measure physician burn out.

• Promotion of the Medicine Forward student and resident-led PEERS program at the Healthcare Burnout Symposium in New York in October 2023 (photo below). 

  

• Sponsorship of the Ripple of Change podcast, broadening awareness of our shared work.

• Increased number of members to more than 450.

• Application for a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant.

• Clubhouse event with group of primary care physicians across the country that met via advocacy work on Twitter.

• Re-organized and re-vitalized our leadership structure; named new officers.

• Increased activity promoting Medicine Forward and Town Halls on LinkedIn.

• Discovery conversations for hosting a national summit.

• Increased networking and awareness.

• Enhancements to our website including additional resources.

• Innumerable 1-1 sessions across the country to support each physician in his or her journey — personally and professionally.

Medicine Forward Collaborators

These are just some of the organizations and physician change leaders that inspire us and are part of the broader Medicine Forward community. We’d like to express our gratitude for the ways in which we are working together to make a difference. 

• American College of Physicians

• Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation

• All In Well-being First for Healthcare

• Our Quadruple Aim / Ripple of Change

• The PX (Patient Experience) Community / Make a Ruckus

• The Nocturnists

• Paul DeChant, MD

• Rebel Physician (Kristin Yates, DO)

• Schwartz Center

• The Good Listening Project / Unlimited Boundaries

• Eric Topol, MD

• Esther Choo, MD (Equity Quotient)

• Tina Shah, MD

• Diana Londoño, MD

• Katie Sophia Cole, MD

• Institute for Healthcare Improvement

• Jordyn Feingold, MD

• Scott Giberson

• Carly Kaplan

• Meher Kalkat 

• Bryan Sexton, PhD (Duke)

• American Women’s Medical Association

• Cornell Industrial and Labor Relations School

• Remote Area Medical

• Global Health Impact Network

Thank you for your partnership and support!