Report of the Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) November 15, 2010
The interim meeting of the AMA was held in San Diego, California 5-9 November 2010. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) presented two resolutions to the House of Delegates (HOD) for consideration. The first resolution affirmed that the AMA will support the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to promulgate rules to regulate and control green house gas emissions in the United States. It was noted that the AMA, with other medical and public health organizations, has communicated to Congress its opposition of any effort to weaken, delay, or block the EPA from protecting the public’s health from the risks of climate change. The second resolution requested the AMA to submit comments during the public comment period on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) supporting a tightening of the NAAQS for fine particulate material (PM 2.5) and coarse particulate matter (PM 10) ; and to call for a standard that provides maximum protection for patients. Concern was expressed that the actual proposal was not available for comment, and the resolution was referred to the Board of Trustees (BOT) for decision. In conjunction with the ATS, this would allow a timely response to review the scientific basis of the EPA proposals.
Through an advocacy process, the AMA will explore the possibility of assuring that all resident physicians and fellows have access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program for the time they are in training. The AMA will oppose tuition taxes and other attendance-based taxes by any government. The HOD adopted a resolution that the AMA will advocate and facilitate medical student access to electronic medical records in hospitals and clinical clerkship sites, and study any barriers thereto. The AMA will only support payment models for non-physician practitioners that do not interfere with graduate medical training.
A Council of Ethical and Judicial (CEJA) Affairs Report that provides guidelines regarding physicians’ obligations to be vaccinated in light of their status as professionals committed to promoting the welfare of individual patients and the public, as well as in the interest of safeguarding personal and their colleague’s health, was adopted. The HOD adopted a policy that supports universal immunization of health care workers (HCW) against seasonal and H1N1 influenza through vaccination programs of health care institutions in conjunction with medical staff leadership. The AMA adopted a resolution to no longer support of a policy that retained HIV infection on the list of communicable diseases of “Public Health Significance” for purposes of immigration law, which excluded immigrants with HIV from settling permanently in the US. This resolution re-aligned AMA policy with that of the Centers for Disease Control, which recently lifted similar restrictions.
In conjunction with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the AMA will promote medical student involvement in professional medical societies, including attendance at local, state and national professional meetings during the pre-clinical and clinical years. Any efforts by the federal government, including the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to regulate resident education and training, including resident and fellow duty hours, will be opposed by the AMA.
The HOD also adopted principles for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs): These groups must be physician-led, have voluntary participation by patients and physicians, encourage collaboration between providers, and medical decisions for patients should not be controlled by economic concerns. The goal of the ACOs should be an increase in access, quality and efficiency of delivery of care.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph W. Sokolowski Jr. M.D.
ATS Delegate to the AMA
