Wednesday, June 20, 2012
This Week's News
New policies, new strategic direction highlight AMA Annual Meeting
AMA CEO details new strategic direction centered on three areas
AMA's work with insurers cuts errors on paid claims by 50 percent
AMA president-elect, other new officers elected at Annual Meeting
Special Feature
New policies, new strategic direction highlight AMA Annual Meeting
One component of the AMA Equation—the AMA House of Delegates, which represents all the nation's physicians—adopted various new policies during this year's AMA Annual Meeting, which wrapped up Wednesday in Chicago.
One new policy addresses implementation of the ICD-10 code set, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes pushing off until Oct. 1, 2014. In response to that delay, delegates voted to evaluate ICD-11 as a possible alternative to replace the ICD-9 code set. The policy also asks the AMA and other stakeholders, such as CMS, to examine other options.
The House also called for examining new ways to finance Medicare, including a defined contribution program that would allow beneficiaries to purchase traditional Medicare or a private health insurance plan.
In the public health sphere, the AMA adopted policy that, starting at age 40, all women should be eligible for screening mammography. The policy also supports insurance coverage for this screening.
Among the meeting's highlights was Saturday's address by AMA CEO and Executive Vice President James L. Madara, MD, who outlined a new strategic direction for the AMA. View details about the new direction elsewhere in AMA Wire.
On Tuesday, Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD, a Colorado psychiatrist, was inaugurated as the 167th president of the AMA. Meantime, Peter W. Carmel, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon in Newark, N.J., closed out his term as president, and Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, an internal medicine and infectious disease specialist in Lexington, Ky., was named president-elect. View Dr. Lazarus' inauguration speech.
Read about these and other highlights from the meeting and view video recaps at www.ama-assn.org/go/annual2012. Also, visit www.amednews.com/house for coverage of the House by American Medical News. And watch for an AMA email later this week recapping the meeting, including a more detailed account of the new policies adopted.
