Clout: The force of 819,000 voices in Washington

AMA Leader Commentary. By John C. Nelson MD, MPH, April 18, 2005.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from AMA President John C. Nelson, MD, MPH.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD (R, Tenn.), spoke to the AMA's National Advocacy Conference last month in Washington, D.C. He noted that the number of physicians in the U.S. Senate had just doubled -- to two. He then alluded to the 58 senators with legal backgrounds.

He could have added 160 lawyers among the 315 members of the House.

That box score summarizes our challenge in being heard in the great national dialogue on matters of medicine. Two U.S. senators and 10 representatives understand intimately what we face in dealing with the issues that plague the other 819,000 of us who practice medicine in America.

But what about the other 98 senators and 305 representatives?

Obviously, our mutual efforts through AMA advocacy programs must be having an effect, because everyone we heard from in official Washington echoed the same refrain: When the AMA speaks, they hear what we think about medical liability reform, physician payment systems and other issues.

Dr. Frist, Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, repeatedly cited the need for our support to expedite needed changes in the U.S. health care system.

Leavitt, noting that demographics is destiny, admitted a doubling of the Medicare-age population in 10 years will put enormous strains on the system, and more -- not fewer -- physicians will be needed.

Physicians, he said, are the critical element in making patients aware, informed and tuned in to the needs and resources to help them. And he asked our help in righting the wrongs of the medical liability crisis -- so that patients who deserve compensation receive it without losing access to care in the future.