2011 Interim Meeting

News from the 65th Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association House of Delegates, held Nov. 12-15 in New Orleans.

Slide show

Photo by Ted Grudzinski / AMA

Scenes from the meeting

Physician-delegates from around the country gathered in New Orleans.

Slide show - Special section pdf

Coverage of the meeting

AMA delegates detail steps to confront national drug shortage emergency
The AMA house backs such recommendations as mandating public notification of market withdrawals up to a year in advance.

Safety cited in new scope-of-practice policies
Delegates take steps to protect patients and ensure proper supervision of certain procedures.

More help sought to fight opioid abuse
The growing death toll linked to controlled substances spurs the AMA to action. Congressional legislation would mandate training for physicians prescribing opioids.

Delegates back state flexibility on uninsured
States should have the choice to create insurance programs, but only if they maintain coverage levels mandated under the health reform law, the AMA says.

Training, EMR tracking can slash risk of radiation overdoses
Delegates support initiatives to better train medical imaging technicians and discourage unnecessary testing.

Doctors seek role on insurance exchanges
The AMA also adopts recommendations calling for patient choice of physician to be protected.

AMA hoping to stop ICD-10 use in billing
Association delegates agree on a resolution to oppose the switch to the new diagnosis coding set.

AMA announces App Challenge winners
Two ideas -- keeping track of patients and searching for diagnostic information -- were chosen from hundreds of entries and unveiled at the AMA Interim Meeting.

Medicare physician pay cut must be stopped now, AMA president tells doctors
Peter W. Carmel, MD, says there would be a massive disruption in care if Congress doesn't prevent the reduction, set to begin Jan. 1.

Other resources

On the house
The House of Delegates is the AMA’s principal policymaking body. Here is a quick reference to who attends and how work gets done.

PAST COVERAGE
From 2011: Interim - Annual
From 2010: Interim - Annual
From 2009: Interim - Annual
From 2008: Interim - Annual
From 2007: Interim - Annual
From 2006: Interim - Annual
From 2005: Interim - Annual
From 2004: Interim - Annual
From 2003: Interim - Annual
From 2002: Interim - Annual
From 2001: Interim - Annual
From 2000: Interim - Annual
MEMBERS-ONLY AREA:
Central meeting archive
AMA CORPORATE:
2011 Interim Meeting site
AMA Advantage - AMA Wire

From the vault

AMA delegates reaffirm key reform policy but target parts of law for change
The AMA house directed the Association to seek repeal of the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board and a provision expanding nonphysicians' scope of practice. [Annual 2011]

Association spotlights need for Medicare payment reform
With drastic cuts on the horizon, AMA leaders focused on efforts to get a 13-month physician pay patch. [Interim 2010]