for sustained public advocacy in support of the current structure of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The Organization of State Medical Association Presidents( OSMAP) hosted a town hall as part of its general membership meeting that included Bruce Scott, MD, outgoing president; Michael Suk, MD, chair of the board of trustees; and Todd Askew, senior vice president for advocacy. The discussion centered on payment reform, prior authorization, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, research cuts, and immunizations.
The take-home message was that the time for decisive action is now, and that was reflected in the resolutions brought forward and passed as policy on the floor of the House of Delegates.
The final report of Reference Committee on Ethics and Bylaws contained 32 items, 8 of which were extracted for discussion. The rest were adopted by acclamation. Extracted items included Board of Trustees report 18, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and CEJA report 2, Supporting Efforts to Strengthen Medical Staff Through Collective Actions and / or Unionization.
Reference Committee A( medical service) had 25 items, of which 7 were extracted for discussion. As is often the case, discussion on each resolution or report took from minutes to over an hour, depending upon the passion and changes presented. Extracted items from Reference Committee A included CMS report 6, Prescription Medication Price Negotiation, and Resolution 105, Development of Educational Resource on Opting Out of Medicare for Physicians.
Reference Committee B( Legislation) had 43 items, and 9 were extracted. There were resolutions pertaining to international medical students, J-1 visa processing, protection of evidenced-based medicine, and biomedical research. potential side effects of GIP and GLP-1 medications, NIH grant funding for medical research, and preserving access to important and essential drugs.
Reference Committee F( finance) had no items extracted for discussion, and all recommendations by the Reference Committee were accepted by the body of the House of Delegates. This is a rare occurrence and a compliment to the AMA staff and Reference Committee members.
Reference Committee G( medical practice) was assigned 25 items for review, 8 of which were extracted for discussion. There were 3 items dealing with prior authorization. Other important items were billing and collections transparency, transparency and accountability of hospitals and health systems, and regulation of corporate investment in the healthcare sector.
As a final note, I wish to express my thanks to the Medical Society of Virginia( MSV) for their hospitality and their inclusion of our delegation in their caucuses and discussions. Special thanks to MSV staff Mr. Chris Flurry and Ms. Melina Davis. Thank you to the chair of the delegation, Clifford Deal, III, MD, and Thomas Eppes, MD, past chair and delegate.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph B. Selby Delegate and Chair.
Image: On the floor of the AMA House of Delegates. Left to right: Joseph Selby M. D., Hoyt Burdick M. D., Chance Anderson medical student.
Reference Committee C( medical education) addressed 20 items, of which 5 were extracted for discussion. Issues that were extracted included reporting of total attempts of USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX-USA Level 1 examinations, professionalism standards in medical training, protections for trainees experiencing retaliation in medical education, and examining American Board of Medical Specialties process for new boards.
Reference Committee D( public health) dealt with 39 items. Among the items adopted were preservation of public funding for physicians and hospitals, protecting the integrity of the US healthcare system from misinformation and policy, breast cancer risk reduction, and guidelines for restricting cell phones in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Reference Committee E( science and technology) reviewed 26 items that included transparency on comparative effectiveness in direct-to-consumer advertising, creating a registry of
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