Some of the links on this page will take you off the AMA Web site. The AMA is not responsible for the content of other Web sites.
Students appointed to AMA Councils and other organizations/bodies are asked to provide brief monthly reports on their activities. Please click on the Council or organization/body below to read the latest update.
If you have questions, please contact the MSS or the relevant Councilor or Representative at the e-mail address provided.
AMA Councils
Other Organizations/Bodies
AMA Councilor Updates
Council on Constitution and Bylaws (CC&B)
Margaret Seater
Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine
Update coming soon
Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA)
Kavita Shah
Jefferson Medical College
At its January 2008 meeting, CEJA discussed upcoming ethical reports as well as conducted business pertaining to its judicial function. Two reports in progress address key medical student issues - access to care and relationships with industry. As CEJA reviews, updates, and amends its current policy on health care as a right and determines new ethical policy stemming from that powerful statement, the AMA HOD will have in its hands landmark policy. We will need every MSS vote in the Big House to pass this important report. During the writing phase, we will be drawing from a variety of sources and encourage you to contribute your opinion. If you have questions or comments about the nature of this report, please contact me.
The second report will deal with medicine's relationship to industry including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. We will address issues such as patient care, research, advertising, and medical education at all three levels (undergraduate, graduate, and continuing). Current AMA policy on relationships to industry is outdated and incomplete and we hope to make pivotal changes given new circumstances that have arisen. Again, if you wish to contribute or learn more about this report, please contact me.
Other reports deal with surgeon's attendance during surgery, secret shopper patients, treating fellow medical students and housestaff, and physicians' personal proprietary information. For more information, comments, or suggestions feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.
Council on Legislation (COL)
Jessica Nguyen-Trong
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
The AMA and AMA-MSS strive every day to achieve health care system reforms, in order to improve the environment in which we practice medicine and deliver care to patients, but your voice is crucial in this process. It has been a privilege to serve this year as your medical student member on the Council on Legislation (COL). This 14-member group reports directly to the Board of Trustees and reviews federal legislation to ensure consistency with AMA policy.
One of the legislative issues that has been particularly of interest to medical students and residents these past few months is the 20/220 rule, which allows residents to defer repayment of their loans based on economic hardship. With the support of the AMA Board of Trustees, the Council on Legislation, AMA Advocacy Staff, the MSS Governing Council, and the MSS Committee on Legislation and Advocacy (COLA), we have been working to reinstate the 20/220 rule in the Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization bills in Congress and through other advocacy efforts. Your support and voice do make a difference when you take the time to communicate personally to your legislators through various pathways, including Capwiz.
The Council on Legislation also makes recommendations on other issues, such as scope of practice, health information technology, Medicare physician reimbursements, medical liability reform, and SCHIP, among others. The resolutions that pass with your input in the MSS Assembly, and subsequently in the House of Delegates, play a role in guiding our decisions.
This year's 2008 Lobby Day in Washington, D.C., is scheduled for March 31. I hope that you'll be able to join the hundreds of medical students and residents who travel to our nation's capital to share our views on the current health care system.
If you have any questions, would like to receive an update, or are trying to get more familiar with health care legislative issues, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Your involvement is what drives the MSS - "Together we are stronger."
Council on Long Range Planning and Development (CLRPD)
Olga Mengin
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Update coming soon
Council on Medical Education (CME)
Maristella Evangelista
Tufts University School of Medicine
Update coming soon
Council on Medical Service (CMS)
Rachelle Klammer
University of Colorado School of Medicine
At its January 2008 meeting, CMS met with two experts on Long-Term Care Financing, Stephen Moses and Paul Willging. Currently, most patients in nursing home facilities are funded through Medicaid and Medicare. With the first of the baby-boomer generation reaching eligibility, funding for long-term care will be an issue in the near future. This is a complicated issue that will impact our careers in the near future. For more information on how long-term care is currently funded please review:
- Aging America's Achilles' Heel: Medicaid Long-Term Care (Cato Institute)
- Long-Term Service and Supports:The Future Role and Challenges for Medicaid (Kaiser Family Foundation)
CMS also discussed reports for the AMA Annual Meeting:
- Medical Care Outside the U.S.: Two resolutions addressing the impact of medical tourism on physician practice and insurance reimbursement were referred for report at A-07. For background on this topic please see Medical Tourism: Global Competition in Health Care (National Center for Policy Analysis).
- Access to Psychiatric Beds and Impact on Emergency Medicine: Study of how the number of psychiatric beds impacts emergency medicine and general medicine resources, specifically emergency room overcrowding.
- Cash Payments for Physician Services: Two resolutions pertaining to cash-based practices were referred at A-07.
- Tax implications of eliminating the employee income tax exclusion for employment sponsored insurance
- Combining the Medicare trust funds
- Value-based decision making
Finally, the AMA Division of Federal Affairs provided CMS with an update on current legislative activities. With the elections, this will be a busy year. Examples of current issues include the Voice for the Uninsured campaign and the looming Medicare reimbursement cuts. Please refer to AMA Advocacy Updates to learn more about the AMA's advocacy activities.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you have a particular student-specific view point on any topic that you would like me to share with the Council.
Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH)
Amber Sabbatini
Loma Linda School of Medicine
Update coming soon
Other Updates
National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Advisory Committee for Medical School Programs
Alyce Belonis
Drexel University College of Medicine
I'm working with the NBME Advisory Committee on several issues. Last June, several stakeholders on the Advisory Committee thought the Step 2 CS score reports didn't provide enough valuable detail. So, we had a conference call at the end of January about providing students with more detailed feedback for Step 2 CS. A new score report has not been finalized. If you have opinions about Step 2 CS you'd like the NBME to know about, let me know and I will make sure your voice is heard. Additionally, the NBME updated its Web site at the beginning of February with more detailed information about the Comprehensive Review of the USMLE. As always, if you have any questions or comments about the NBME or USMLE process, please contact me.
Committee to Evaluate the USMLE Program (CEUP)
Peter Ragusa
University of Minnesota Medical School
In 2004, the USMLE began a process for a comprehensive review of the USMLE program. As a result, the Committee to Evaluate the USMLE Program (CEUP) was formed. Three major national medical student organizations, AAMC-OSR, AMSA and the AMA-MSS, were given one consensus appointment to represent all medical students – that appointee’s name is Peter Ragusa. After exhaustive information-gathering and deliberation phases, whereby CEUP received broad stakeholder input, CEUP is set to release its preliminary recommendations sometime in the next month. The recommendations will likely address issues such as the emphasis on basic sciences across all USMLE components, the provision of assessment information to allow state medical boards to make decisions at two points (entry into supervised and unsupervised practice) rather than the current three-Step process, and a redesign that better reflects the competencies critical to safe medical practice. During the remainder of 2008, various stakeholders will collaborate with the USMLE to discuss the recommendations. If you would like to express an opinion, you may register it at the USMLE Web site or by contacting Peter. Also, please visit the Comprehensive USMLE Review Web site for the most up-to-date information.
National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Liaison
Sandeep Krishnan
University of Missouri - Kansas City
It has been my pleasure to serve at the leisure of the AMA-MSS in my capacity as a member of the NRMP Board of Directors. For years, the NRMP has been helping students match to residency programs across the country, and it makes me proud to serve as a voice to all AMA medical student members on the Board. The NRMP has two Board meetings yearly--one in October and one in May. I have learned a great deal about the match process through my appointment to the Board of the NRMP and the biggest piece of advice that I could give to all fourth year medical students going through the match process right now would be to read the entire Match Participation Agreement (MPA). As a member of the Board, I review violation cases of applicants who fail to honor their match commitments, and I can say from person experience that the costs of violating the MPA without good merit are very high.
The most exciting news that I have to share with you this year is that the Neurosurgery match will be leaving the San Francisco Matching Program and joining the NRMP match beginning 2009. I would also like to take this time to reiterate that if you have any questions or concerns about the NRMP or the match process, or just would like to voice your opinion, please feel free to e-mail or call me [(573)-746-6142] at any time with your input. After all, I am here to represent you and your ideas, so please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you once again for this opportunity and I look forward to serving you in this capacity through the 2008-2009 school year.
American Medical Political Action Committee (AMPAC) Board of Directors
R. Jay Widmer
Texas A&M Health Sciences Center
Update coming soon
AMA Minority Affairs Consortium (MAC) Governing Council
Travis Gayles
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign
Update coming soon
AMA Women Physicians Congress (WPC) Governing Council
Maya Babu
Harvard Medical School
Update coming soon
Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)
Christopher Zammit
New York Medical College
I have been serving as the AMA-MSS's representative to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) since last July. My term (both as on this committee and as a medical student!) will be expiring this June. If you think you might have any interest in this position, I encourage you to keep reading! The LCME "is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree in U.S. and Canadian medical school." In simpler terms, the LCME makes sure that U.S. and Canadian allopathic medical schools are up to snuff. Each school must demonstrate that they meet each of the LCME's standards to retain their accreditation. These standards are NOT limited to the educational program. The LCME also cares about how the admissions process is conducted, promoting diversity among the students and faculty, academic, personal, and financial aid counseling, faculty numbers and promotions, clinical and teaching facilities, library and information resources, and finances, among others.
The LCME is composed of seventeen members; seven each from the AMA and AAMC, two public members, and one Canadian member. A student is included in the seven from the AMA and AAMC, for a total of two student members out of the seventeen. As a student it is an absolute privilege to be a member of this committee, as the rest of the members (which include Deans of medical schools) are tremendously experienced and accomplished in medical education.
If you have gotten to this point and you think you are interested in serving on the LCME for the coming academic year, please go to www.lcme.org/studentsearch.htm. They do require that you will be a fourth year medical student when your term begins on July 1st and that you are available to attend four meetings, the first being in June of 2008 in Ottawa as an orientation, then in October, February, and June as a member. Visit the LCME Web site to learn more!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best of Luck!
AMA Foundation Board of Directors
Richard Rodriguez
Florida State University College of Medicine
The AMA Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Medical Association. As such, it seeks to advance health care and medicine by supporting programs in medical education, research and community service. Over the past year, I have had the pleasure of serving as the medical student member on the AMA Foundation's Board of Directors. I have had the opportunity to attend the Foundation's Board meetings and be the voice of medical students across the country. Furthermore, I've also had the chance to attend various Foundation events and fundraisers and have even represented the Board at several speaking engagements.
During my term, I've witnessed the Foundation collect surpass $3,000,000 in donations for the United for the Future of Medicine Campaign as well as secure a $500,000 grant from Pfizer for the Foundation's Healthy Communities/Healthy America Program which supports physician-led free clinics providing direct care to the underserved and uninsured.
Recently, the Foundation has selected 57 recipients for its yearly Excellence in Medicine Awards which will be presented during the AMA National Advocacy Conference in March. The Foundation is also looking forward to awarding thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving medical students in the upcoming months. Please visit the AMA Foundation Web site for a list of all the available scholarships.
At the end of this month, I will be representing the Foundation at the Eastern-Atlantic Student Research Forum in Miami, Fla. and will present the Best Overall Clinical and Basic Science awards, as well as gives a speech on behalf of the AMA Foundation.
I've really enjoyed my time with the Foundation and encourage anyone interested to apply! The deadline for applications (Word, 45KB) is Feb. 19, 2008. If anyone has any questions about the Foundation, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Advisory Committee on Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Issues (GLBT)
Jeremy Toler
West Virginia University School of Medicine
Over the past year, I have had the amazing opportunity to serve as the MSS Student Representative to the AMA Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues.
My time with this committee has been incredible. With the AMA becoming ever more understanding and encompassing of the needs of GLBT patients, physicians, and medical students, the Advisory Committee has helped to shape AMA policy, bridge alliances with groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, and open the eyes of many physicians and students to the needs of the GLBT community. There is a huge need for continued work by this committee, because many important concepts are on the horizon and will be delved into in the upcoming year. The committee needs a strong liaison to relay information to the MSS and bring a medical student perspective to the table.
I began working with the individuals on the Advisory Committee during my MS2 year and have been impressed by the passion and personalities of the members of this committee. Serving as the MSS Representative has been the highlight of not only my AMA involvement to date, but to my four years as a medical student. I am leaving this position both thankful for what I have learned and saddened that I cannot continue my work with this committee. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me .
AMA Initiative to Transform Medical Education (ITME)
Peter Ragusa
University of Minnesota Medical School
Update coming soon
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