Advocacy, activism: No longer a choice

AMA Leader Commentary. By Duane M. Cady, MD, April 3, 2006.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from the chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, Duane M. Cady, MD.

In eight hours on March 14, eight of our country's most powerful leaders spoke from a single podium at the AMA's National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C.

Four were Republicans. Four were Democrats. Some were liberal, some were conservative.

As I listened to the speeches, I was pleased but not surprised to hear members of both parties denounce the broken Medicare physician payment formula. We heard the same statement time and time again: The formula must be replaced.

AMA and AMA Alliance members hammered that message home. Medical students, physicians and their spouses canvassed Capitol Hill, asking Congress, at the very least, to stop the cut slated for Jan. 1, 2007.

The data are in. A new AMA survey shows that 45% of physicians say they will decrease or stop accepting new Medicare patients with the first cut alone. Suffice it to say that our seniors deserve better.

The eight speakers also gave proposals for fixing our broken medical liability system and expanding coverage for the uninsured, two other top priorities of the AMA.

In those two areas, there was less agreement, but overall, the daylong dialogue was a healthy one, with opportunities for physicians and medical students to ask tough questions.

In my opinion, though, the common thread among all the speakers wasn't how they stood on any particular policy. What struck me most was that each of them talked about how important it was to get physicians involved in finding answers to all of our country's health care woes.

For example, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D, N.Y.), kicked off the day by saying, "If our health care system doesn't work for doctors, it doesn't work for anyone."