AMA Annual Meeting

Tuesday, July 01, 2014 12:46 PM

Kate Alfano, CMS contributing writer

Report from 2014 AMA House of Delegates meeting

Delegates and leaders representing the Colorado Medical Society traveled to Chicago June 7-11, 2014, to attend the annual meeting of the American Medical Association House of Delegates. Coloradans experienced great success in policymaking and continue to carry great influence in the AMA.

Resolutions

The four Colorado delegates to the AMA – A. Lee Morgan, MD, delegation chair; M. Ray Painter Jr., MD; Lynn Parry, MD; and Brigitta Robinson, MD; the four alternate delegates – David Downs, MD; Jan Kief, MD; Mark Laitos, MD; and Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts, MD along with CMS President John Bender, MD, who was also seated as an alternate delegate– worked hard to testify on and carry important resolutions to passage through the House of Delegates. As is CMS tradition, all delegates and alternate delegates rotated in casting votes on all items before the AMA House of Delegates.

Colorado presented and successfully passed one resolution, authored by AMA Past President Jeremy Lazarus, MD. The resolution directs the AMA to study and report back on the current state of knowledge regarding the integration of physical and behavioral health. This includes recommendations for further study, the implementation of models of physical and behavioral health integration, and other tools or policies that would benefit patients and the health care system by the integration of physical and behavioral health.

In other policy news, delegates voted to ask President Barack Obama to provide timely access to care for eligible veterans through the health care sector outside of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system and to urge Congress to enact long-term solutions so these veterans can always have timely access to entitled care. They also voted to continue investigating maintenance of certification (MOC), osteopathic continuous certification (OCC) and maintenance of licensure (MOL), including assessing the impact of MOC on physician practices. And they approved a set of principles for coverage of and payment for telemedicine services.

Elections

Physicians from around the country vied for open seats on the AMA Board of Trustees and six AMA councils. CMS Immediate Past President Jan Kief, MD, ran for a seat on the Council on Constitution and Bylaws but was unsuccessful. She received wide praise for running a difficult, upbeat race and she thanked all in Colorado and the Western Mountain States Conference (WMSC) for their support.

The future of medicine

Members of the Young Physicians Section (YPS), the AMA Resident and Fellow Section (RFS), and the AMA Medical Student Section participated in a variety of engaging events during their annual meetings.

The young physicians discussed priority issues and worked on shaping AMA policy, adopting two resolutions for consideration by the AMA HOD. The first asked the AMA to study diversity among AMA delegates and develop mechanisms to promote diversity within the HOD. The second asked the AMA to oppose special licensing pathways for physicians who are not currently enrolled in an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or American Osteopathic Association training program, or have not completed at least one year of accredited post-graduate U.S. medical education.

The residents and fellows attended a welcome reception that encouraged networking with peers, and participated in educational sessions and policy discussions. They proposed policies on medical school debt, evaluating transfers in and out of residency programs, improving the use of mobile medical technology, and developing a national prescription drug monitoring program. They also offered guidance to medical students on their upcoming transition to residency.

The medical students considered 47 items of business during their assembly, and brought several successful resolutions to the House of Delegates, including an FDA nutrition label revision, modernization of HIV-specific criminal laws, and complete maternity care under the ACA. For the first time, the students utilized a fully virtual reference committee to consider testimony from students around the nation, regardless of whether they were able to attend the meeting. They also had the opportunity to participate in educational sessions on topics such as community service, health care policy, legislative advocacy, loan management and leadership.

Paul Pukurdpol of the University of Colorado School of Medicine was elected, for the second time, to serve on the AMA-MSS Governing Council as the section alternate delegate, where he will lead the entire medical student delegation. Paul is also the outgoing vice speaker and spearheaded many innovative measures to make the AMA-MSS the nation’s leading medical student organization.

Social time

The meeting wasn’t all business. Saturday evening all Colorado leaders gathered for dinner to enjoy each other’s company. “As technology lures us away from face-to-face encounters on many fronts, we must always remember the value of collegiality and just taking the time away from business to enjoy being with one another,” Kief said.

A kickoff event on Friday night reminded attendees of the heart of medicine – the patient-physician relationship – at Inspirations in Medicine. The event at the Museum of Broadcasting featured three physicians and one patient telling their personal accounts of how the patient-physician relationship has inspired them. Kief said it was “just what the doctor ordered.”

“We heard stories about how a physician, despite being unable to save a patient’s life, gave him valuable time that he appreciated to say goodbye to his family. We heard stories of patient courage and partners in care with their physicians and how those struggles changed them both, and we saw our own president- elect Tamaan Osbourne-Roberts on the big screen being interviewed about the difference you can make in patients’ lives.”

Thank you to all of the leaders who attended the 2014 AMA Annual Meeting.