We can echo the leadership principles of past presidents

AMA Leader Commentary. By Cecil B. Wilson, MD, Feb. 5, 2007.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all AMA members from Cecil B. Wilson, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

February is presidents month -- Abraham Lincoln's birthday is the 12th, George Washington's is the 22nd and Presidents Day, as ordained by Congress, is the 19th.

Each and all of these commemorative dates are a reminder for us to be grateful for the genius of American politics and the American governmental system.

They also are a reminder of the importance of leadership that was provided by these two icons of American history: Washington in the founding of our country and Lincoln in its preservation.

In addition, each reminds us that the United States of America is an exception to the rule of nationhood on a planet with a history of tyranny, despotism and exploitation by the strong over the weak.

In America, we have reversed the formula, describing ourselves as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. As a consequence, our national character is up-beat, positive and enthusiastic and is grounded in common sense. We don't wait for "wise men" to dictate. We listen to each other and make up our individual minds.

When we have failed, it has been because we brought insufficient thought and reason to the leadership provided. When we have succeeded, the sky has been no limit, as NASA proved.

Medicine is no exception. American medicine, at its best, has grown to be the envy of the world. The pages of this newspaper and the Journal of the American Medical Association testify not only to the complexity and constant change characteristic of medicine but also to the progress and ultimate public good achieved.

The good news of the science of medicine is tempered, however, by the serious challenges we face in dealing with a health care system that is broken -- challenges that call for the leadership and vision characteristic of a Washington or a Lincoln.

We are locked in the jaws of two arbitrary payment systems that threaten ever-increasing prices, ever-widening shortages and ever-growing temptations for physicians to surrender in disgust.

Congress has created a political yo-yo called the Medicare physician payment system.

The legal system has created an impenetrable maze of medical liability that fails in its task of compensating those who are injured and in the process encourages nonmeritorious suits.

The very freedom of choice that we so dearly prize as a nation is resulting in our making lifestyle choices that prove fatal for some and debilitating for all too many.

The failed health care financing system results in 40 million citizens lacking insurance, putting them at risk of being sicker and dying sooner.

And all the while -- in millions of encounters every day -- the physicians of America guard and extend the nation's health, the ultimate wealth of this or any other nation.

At the AMA, our agenda is to provide the leadership to reform America's health care system -- and in the process help doctors help patients.

As we recognize the greatness of a Washington or a Lincoln, we should recognize the genius of American medicine that is practiced here and emulated worldwide.

We understand that our work as physicians should have as its focus access to quality health care for all. And our work at the AMA should seek to emulate those leadership qualities exemplified so well by Washington and Lincoln.

That work is embodied in our 2007 Health Advocacy Agenda that I will discuss next month.

Dr. Wilson an internist in private practice in Winter Park, Fla., was chair of the AMA Board of Trustees during 2006-07. Learn more about Dr. Wilson at the AMA's bio page.

The doctors are in the house
The AMA's House of Delegates is holding its Interim Meeting Nov. 7-10 in Houston, addressing issues such as health system reform and physician payment.
Meeting coverage - Slideshow