• Council on medical service report 8: Rural health transformation program update and workforce challenges. The AMA encourages the expansion of programs designed to define physician shortage areas and support physicians working in these areas as necessity to the functioning of a rural medical practice or hospital.
• Board of trustees report 25: Federal legislation to prohibit the corporate practice of medicine. The AMA opposes the corporate practice of medicine and supports the restriction of ownership and operational authority of physician medical practices to physicians or physician owned groups.
•“ Organized Medicine Meets Organized Labor,” a thoughtprovoking presentation occurred Friday, June 5, from 2-5:30 p. m. during the general session of the Organization of State Medical Association Presidents( OSMAP).
Some statistics presented include:
• 80 % of physicians practicing medicine do so as employees.
Many questions were raised that we in West Virginia should be thinking about given that as more physicians become employed, hospital associations and state medical associations have less in common. Some of these questions include:
• What role should state medical organizations play in representing physicians as they become organized?
• Should state medical associations start their own physician union groups?
• What role should or will the AMA play in physician workforce organization?
These are very interesting times!
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph B. Selby, MD Chair of the West Virginia AMA Delegation
• 8.5 % of physicians were unionized in 2025.
• 20 % of residence and fellows are represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents.
• Delaware has a collective bargaining agreement for physicians employed by its largest employer of physicians.
• The Missouri State Medical Association is currently investigating physician unionization.
• The Pennsylvania Medical Society is currently investigating unionization.
Drug or Alcohol Problem? Mental Illness?
ALL CALLS are CONFIDENTIAL
West Virginia Medical Professionals Health Program 4013 Buckhannon Pike Mount Clare, WV 26408
If you have a drug or alcohol problem, or are suffering from a mental illness, you can get help by contacting the West Virginia Medical Professionals Health Program. Information about physician’ s, podiatrist’ s and physician assistant’ s participation in the program is confidential. These practitioners entering the program as self-referrals without a complaint filed against them may remain confidential and are not reported to their licensing board.
( 304) 933-1030 | www. wvmphp. org
West Virginia Medical Journal • September 2026 • 9