Wednesday, June 13, 2012
This Week's News
Participate in CME activities at your convenience through the AMA's online offerings
Physicians discuss delivery reform at White House town-hall meeting
AMA Annual Meeting begins this week; view proposed policies online
Medicare-private payer partnership to fund primary care innovation
This Week's News
Physicians discuss delivery reform at White House town-hall meeting
AMA physician leaders took part in a national discussion about opportunities and barriers for delivery system innovation during a June 6 meeting at the White House.
Speaking to the Obama administration's interest in learning about delivery reforms that are working at the local level and identifying barriers to innovation, members of the AMA Innovators Committee talked about their work on specific payment and delivery innovations during the town-hall style meeting.
AMA leaders also discussed the organization's commitment to delivery reform and raised issues that might prevent physicians from participating, including tight deadlines imposed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and the burdensome administrative requirements tied to the Medicare program.
In addition to members of the AMA Innovators Committee, the roughly 180 physicians who participated in the forum included AMA Board Chair Robert M. Wah, MD, AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD, and Francis J. Crosson, MD, the AMA's new vice president of professional satisfaction in care delivery and payment.
The AMA has also suggested implementing an array of innovative practice models to replace the broken Medicare payment system in a recent letter to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Ways and Means. AMA President Peter W. Carmel, MD, writes about these suggestions in a recent guest column on physician blog KevinMD.com.
Visit the AMA's Web page on next generation payment and delivery models to learn more about the AMA Innovators Committee. The Web page also offers resources to help physicians examine and implement innovations in their own practices, including a video on accountable care organizations and a "how-to" manual on new payment models, such as shared savings, payment bundling and capitation.
