Page 29 - Delaware Medical Journal - January 2018
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AMA Interim Meeting Highlights
The 2017 AMA Interim Meeting was held November 11-14, 2017 in Hawaii.
The Medical Society of Delaware was represented by MSD’s AMA Delegate Kelly Eschbach, MD; Alternate Delegate Janice Tildon-Burton, MD; Organized Medical Staff Section Representative Nancy Fan, MD; Resident/Fellow Section Representative Stephanie Guarino, MD; MSD President Prayus Tailor, MD; and Mark Thompson, MSD Executive Director.
A“natural convener of ideas and objectives” is needed to solve the legislative, policy, and technological challenges facing physicians and the nation’s health system. AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD, knows an organization perfect for that role. “That’s us,” he said during the opening session of the 2017 AMA Interim Meeting in Honolulu.
Dr. Madara added that physicians “need to seize” a more central part in shaping health care’s future, and he spoke of how the AMA Code of Medical Ethics and leading a public campaign against smoking.
“The history of the AMA is intertwined with the history of American medicine,” Dr. Madara said, noting how the AMA is working to shape the health policy decisions of the present.
Policy decisions approved by the House of Delegates included:
“Our voice is a mitigating force for national chaos that we seem to tilt toward as of late,” Dr. Madara said.
“The AMA’s critical work to stem the waterfall of disturbing legislative health care proposals rightly occupied much of our time and effort.”
strong leadership in medicine.”
But Dr. Madara’s speech focused mostly on the AMA’s role in leading the future of medicine and meeting the longer-term needs of patients and physicians.
Initiative (IHMI), which will assemble data elements into a “meaningful conceptualization of the patient’s state,” along with
a Health2047 spinoff project that could serve as a utility for health data movement similar to a city’s power grid or water supply.
ADDRESS BIAS. The AMA House of Delegates adopted new policy to advocate for federal and state legislation to provide additional funding to support infrastructure and faculty development, capacity for medical school expansion, clinical clerkships, and other educational experiences.
AMA INTERIM MEETING
MEDICAID, BENEFITS RULES. Delegates stood firm
against Medicaid work requirements and changes that would undermine essential health benefits requirements.
MORE MEDICAID HELP SOUGHT FOR PUERTO RICO, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS. The AMA will urge more funding for hurricane-ravaged islands’ Medicaid programs, as well as temporary emergency CMS waivers.
PHYSICIANS OPPOSE HARMFUL CHANGES TO
ACTIONS TAKEN TO PROTECT CLERKSHIP SPOTS,
SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY. Doctors “must uphold
WHEN APPEARING IN MEDIA, PHYSICIANS CARRY
the values” of the medical profession. That means providing accurate information, disclosing conflicts of interest, and more.
MEDICINE COVERAGE. New AMA policy calls for
MORE TRANSPARENCY NEEDED ON PRECISION
facilitating consistent coverage of genetic medicine and more transparency in how coverage is determined.
Del Med J | January 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 1
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