Organized Medical Staff Section

The Organized Medical Staff Section is the Section of the AMA that is the advocate, voice and resource for physicians who are members of the medical staffs and other organizations.

What's New: Announcements and Other Information

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OMSS comments on newly proposed Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal
In November 2011, The Joint Commission (TJC) released a proposed National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) that seeks to minimize the overuse of tests, treatments, and procedures to reduce the risk of patient harm. The proposed NPSG does not appear to require physician involvement in the process of defining “appropriate use” of such procedures or in the development of performance improvement tools and methods to reduce inappropriate use. On January 24, the OMSS submitted comments on the proposed NPSG to TJC, requesting that the final standard require organizations include the medical staff in the process of identifying and addressing overuse.

AMA submits comments on proposed revisions to Medicare CoPs
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed to revise the Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs) for Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals. The proposed rule seeks a number of changes that threaten the physician-directed practice of medicine and undermine the self-governance of the medical staff and its integral role in ensuring the quality of patient care provided in the hospital setting.

On December 22, the AMA and 81 state and specialty medical societies submitted comments to CMS in strong opposition to the proposed revisions to the medical staff and governing body CoPs. The comments note that the proposed revisions would cause serious harm to patients by diluting the authority of the medical staff to set professional and clinical standards for patient care, and by extracting the governing body from the local setting, rendering it incapable of assessing the acute clinical needs of the hospital‟s patient population.

2011 AMA-OMSS Interim Assembly Meeting Highlights
Read highlights of the 2011 Interim Meeting and download summary documents.