Now is the time to build on our health policy victories

AMA Leader Commentary. By J. Edward Hill, MD. April 7, 2003.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from J. Edward Hill, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

March came in like a lion for the AMA and all of organized medicine -- and we roared the rest of the month.

We started off with the first National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C., during the first week in March. Those in attendance gave us rave reviews, and organizations, inside and outside the health care community, were impressed by our line-up of speakers -- led by President George W. Bush.

We heard from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, (R, Tenn.), who urged physicians to take the fight for tort reform to their Senators.

We heard from the House Ways and Means Committee chair, Rep. Bill Thomas (R, Calif.), who was crucial in passing the fix to the Medicare payment mistake -- as was Rep. Billy Tauzin, (R, La.), House Energy and Commerce Committee chair, who also spoke at the NAC. And we heard from Sen. Max Baucus, (D, Mont.), who helped achieve bipartisan consensus on fixing the Medicare update mistake on the Senate side.

Our speakers also included Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Tom Scully, who urged organized medicine to bring the same focus to battling the medical liability crisis that it applied to the Medicare mistake; and U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, MD, who stressed the importance of diet and exercise, and not smoking.

Many who spoke had one thing in common -- praise of the AMA and the Federation of Medicine for our leadership and influence on national health policy issues such as the Medicare payment update issue and medical liability reform. This vote of confidence makes us want to work that much harder to reach our goals for American medicine and for our patients.