Page 44 - Delaware Medical Journal - July/August 2019

profession ... improve care for ALL of our 300-plus million fellow Americans ... and stand as leaders in health care across the globe.
And lead we must and we will. But, our core values:
• access to health care for all;
• diversity and inclusion;
• the primacy of the patient-physician relationship;
• the advancement of science and public health
...will not be part of the health care landscape unless we ensure that they are.
Over our 172-year history as an organization, we have faced many challenges.
We are all too well aware of what we face today:
• While the Affordable Care Act brought coverage to millions of Americans, millions still lack coverage, and there are those who want to roll back the gains we have made;
• Far too many people — one in two adults — struggle with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease;
• Though we’ve made progress, the face of medicine still fails to match the faces of our patients;
• People living in rural areas too often have to drive hundreds of miles to the nearest physician, or hospital;
• Overdoses continue to outpace other causes of premature death and wreak havoc on our communities;
• Our young people are subject to the dangers of e-cigarette use at epidemic levels;
• And pharmaceutical prices continue to soar.
I see these not as intractable problems but as intractable opportunities ... opportunities that we as physicians fully embrace.
We don’t run away from problems ... physicians run towards them!
That is our role, our responsibility, our AMA mission.
We can make a difference and we do make a difference.
Our formula for success: community,
teamwork, a broad perspective, professional allies, and a willingness to lead.
While a year is not a long time, like all who came before me, I, too, hope to leave a mark on the AMA, both as a child and adolescent American woman to hold this position.
When I look back on my time as President, I hope to say:
• We turned the promise of parity for mental health into reality.
• We moved the needle on health equity.
• We reformed prior authorization so that more patients could get the right care at the right time.
• We saw the end to the opioid epidemic on the horizon, and furthered alliances in Washington and across every state to remove barriers to treatment for those diagnosed with substance use disorders.
One of my favorite poems about leadership was written by Mary Lou Anderson.
She wrote, “Leaders are called to stand in that lonely place between the no longer and the not yet ... and intentionally make decisions that will bind, forge, move, and create history.”
When it comes to health equity, to mental health, and to many other issues, medicine IS in that lonely place between the “no longer” and the “not yet,” and we must act intentionally to move forward.
We are no longer at a place where those with mental illness and addiction are hidden and ignored, but we are not yet at a place where mental disorders are viewed without stigma, and truly integrated into health care.
We are no longer at a place where we can tolerate the disparities that plague communities of color, women, and the LGBTQ community.
But we are not yet at a place where health equity is achieved in those communities.
And not yet at a place where women can live of our own medical decisions.
We are no longer at a place where underrepresented groups are unwelcomed in medicine; but we are not yet at a place where African American men are entering, or
graduating, from medical schools at the rates of their peers.
We are no longer at a place where we can tolerate bureaucratic government and payor requirements that add to the cost of care without increasing value ... but not yet at a place where we have eliminated unnecessary regulations and can truly focus on care.
We are no longer at a place where we can turn a blind eye to the chronic conditions that plague half of American adults, but not yet at a place where everyone has access to affordable health care.
Colleagues, as medicine’s leaders, we all need to stand in those sometimes lonely places, and make decisions now that will move us forward to a future we help create.
So I ask you to join me in taking the next step of leadership and “intentionally make decisions that will bind, forge, move, and create history.”
The AMA has led the way on innumerable public health advances throughout its history.
Let us commit tonight to move medicine forward again this year. . . as we state emphatically that health, in all its dimensions, is a basic human right.
We can do this!
Because when we all join together, bringing our differing perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and resources to bear ... that’s when we can truly move medicine forward for the good of our patients, the profession, the nation, and the world.
I’ll close with one more quote from Maya Angelou, who said, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.”
For me, tonight is one of those moments.
I am honored that each of you is here to share it with me, and by the trust you have placed in me.
I can promise you that the legacy of the AMA will be in good hands as we work together “to transform 1 million realities.”
Good night, Mom. Good night, Dad.
Dr. Harris’ speech provided courtesy of the American Medical Association.
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Del Med J | July/August 2019 | Vol. 91 | No. 4