Advocacy, policy, and governance

With the support of members, your Resident and Fellow Section fights to improve working conditions, reform America's health care system, improve medical education, and create tools to help resident and fellow physicians succeed both personally and professionally.  Membership in the RFS ensures your voice is heard, not only in the AMA House of Delegates, but in the U.S. Congress and the courts as well. For over 25 years, the largest national organization of resident and fellow physicians has set policies that have been incorporated into national legislation or have been adopted by regulating bodies.

Improving Working Conditions
Your RFS is committed to helping residents and fellows foster a productive and sustainable working environment that is conducive to professional development and the safe delivery of care to patients. Your RFS Governing Council led the fight to establish duty hour guidelines and continues to refine those guidelines and monitor their enforcement .

• Overview of ACGME Duty Hours Guidelines
• Reporting Violations & Filing a Formal ACGME Complaint
  (PDF, 21KB, requires Adobe® Reader®)
• FAQs on ACGME Duty Hour Guidelines (PDF, 21KB)
• Intimidation to inaccurately report duty hours
  This link will take you off the AMA Web site.
• Background on duty hour guidelines, intimidation and AMA efforts
• Physician Recruiters: Your RFS helps to stop physician recruiters from interrupting education and patient care with unsolicited pages during working hours. Read the letters written by Dr. Maves (PDF, 45KB) and the AMNews article (PDF, 35KB) related to this issue. Please contact Anu Gupta at the AMA (312) 464-4277 if you are receiving unsolicited pages by recruiters while you are working.

Enhancing Benefits and Pay

• Read about the AMA's success in Eliminating Benefit Waiting Periods for residents. In 2006, an HOD Resolution H-295.873 was passed encouraging ACGME to eliminate waiting periods for health and disability insurance benefits for resident and fellow physicians, and their families.
• Graduate Medical Education Funding
• Resident Income and Debt Relief

Advocacy Letters

• AMA Urges Reinstatement of Debt-to-income Ratio Pathway ("20/220 pathway") of the Economic Hardship Deferment (PDF, 45KB)
• AMA Supports Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2007 (PDF, 45KB)
• AMA Supports Medical Education Affordability Act (PDF, 70KB)
• AMA Supports Preventive Medicine and Public Health Training Act of 2007 (PDF, 42KB)
• AMA Supports Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act of 2007 (PDF, 47KB)
• AMA Comments on Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Proposed Rule (PDF, 89KB)
• AMA Comments on College Cost Reduction and Access Act (PDF, 48KB)

Reforming GME Curriculum and Testing

• Initiative to Transform Medical Education (ITME)
  Learn about the AMA's initiatives to promote excellence in patient care by reforming the medical education and training system to meet the needs of the changing health care system.
• View the latest report (PDF, 312KB)
• AMA Policy on the USMLE Clinical Skills Assessment Exam

Creating Policy
Membership in the RFS ensures your voice is heard, not only in the AMA House of Delegates, but in the U.S. Congress and the courts as well. For over 25 years, the largest national organization of resident and fellow physicians has set policies that have been incorporated into national legislation or have been adopted by regulating bodies. The policymaking process of the AMA and the RFS gives you the power to create change and is one of the most unique and powerful privileges of AMA membership

Existing Policy and Reports

• Official AMA-RFS Policy (PDF, 384KB, requires Adobe® Reader®.)
• Official AMA Policy Finder
• Current RFS Council/Committee Reports 

The policymaking process of the AMA and the RFS gives you the power to create change and is one of the most unique and powerful privileges of AMA membership. To learn more, see Governance & Policy Development Process.

To make a difference, you have to be heard!

Become a member of the AMA-RFS today!
For additional information, contact your Resident and Fellow Section at (800) 262-3211x4978 or e-mail rfs@ama-assn.org