AMA's plan for 2008

The American Medical Association lays out strategies to improve the environment in which physicians and patients operate and offers tools for their everyday lives.

Editorial. Dec. 17, 2007.

As physicians ponder their New Year's resolutions, the American Medical Association has made a few vows of its own for 2008 to help doctors help patients.

The Association's 2008 Strategic Plan contains these principal commitments in six major areas:

Health care environment. Medicare payment reform, care for the uninsured, medical liability reform, scope of practice and physician work force distribution all fall into this category, where the AMA will seek changes in the state and federal legal and regulatory environments.

Clinical excellence. Quality improvement in health care, patient safety, long-term care and care for the aging, health information technology and health disparities will be predominant areas of focus as the AMA commits itself to advancing clinical processes, techniques and tools physicians use.

Health of the public. Healthy lifestyles, disaster preparedness, immunizations and international medicine are main areas of focus for improvements in public health.

Physician practice viability. Private health plan and payment reform, and consumerism's impact on health care are two main areas of focus in helping physicians overcome systematic barriers to effective practice management, particularly those that interfere with the patient-physician relationship.

Physician education and professionalism. Transforming medical education, advancing professionalism and ethics, and improving financing for medical students are priorities in the stewardship of the profession's educational system and work force.