It is truly an honor to accept the presidency of the American Academy of Private Physicians.  My friend, Tom Lagrelius, has left some rather huge shoes to fill.  We started 2009 walking in the right direction and with Tom’s determination and passion, this organization is running toward a brilliant future.

I don’t have to remind our physician members that the world is NOT about us.  It is about our patients.

They are why we go to work, and it’s their successes and wonderful life stories that make us smile and give us cause to pause a moment…. knowing this is the way it was meant to be.

2010 is going to be more than dynamic.  Direct practices are exploding all over the country.  The AAPP is going to be there to help any and every physician who wants to engage in what has become known as “old fashioned” medicine.  I, like Tom, am determined to be sure that any and every patient in this country who wants to invest in their personal health will have the opportunity to befriend a direct practice primary care physician.

This effort will take a team, not a village, just a team of dedicated like-minded doctors who know that the success of this movement is the reform that this nation needs to bring affordable health care to all Americans.  It has NEVER been about insurance.  It has ALWAYS been about the patient-doctor relationship and about doctor-doctor collaboration.  It has NEVER been about the paperwork but ALWAYS been about the passion.  It has NEVER been about the MONEY but has ALWAYS been about the dedication to duty.

I want to end my remarks with a little story about my daddy.  I asked my dad about President Obama’s gift to the Queen of England.  You may remember that he gave her an IPOD.  My father thought that that was a foolish gift.  I asked him what he would have taken across the Atlantic to give to the Queen and he answered immediately.  ”Well, a box of See’s candy, of course.”  In my mind, I remembered the boxes of See’s candy and the Apple pies my family made for our neighbors and friends when we wanted to say “hello” or “thank you.”  Health care is no different, is it?  It is not about the computers or the iPhones.

Those are great tools.  But, its the boxes of candy and the home made apple pies that come with love and the wanting to share that make America’s healthcare the success that it is.  It is the ability to apply the science to the person ….. not the person to the science.

My daddy took a box of See’s candy down the street to share with the family of Polly Morrison, the wife of our pediatrician who died many years ago.  She is ill with cancer and is under the care of hospice at the age of 92.  While there, he was able to make a donation to Dr. Morrison’s foundation, the Morrison House, and in exchange, Mrs. Morrison gave my daddy an original piece of artwork, done by her husband during his retirement.  I brought it back from Ohio and it will hang in my office to remind me of the legacy that my family pediatrician left with us.  The legacy is what we all know and practice and what we want for our patients.  We want them to know that good “old-fashioned” medicine is here to stay.

And as one my patients said to me today when she “came back” to the practice,  ”It feels like I’m home again.”