In a time when trust in institutions is eroding and health care decisions are increasingly shaped by sound bites rather than science, it’s never been more important for physicians to tell their own story.
Physician advocacy is not about politics; it’s about patients. It is about making sure policies reflect clinical realities, support high-quality care, and strengthen the patient-physician relationship that is bedrock in medicine. It is about physicians stepping forward as trusted leaders to explain what is at stake when health care policy goes right, or wrong.
Across the country, physician leaders are doing just that. They are engaging lawmakers, educating the public, and working together to advance solutions that improve access to care, reduce administrative burdens, protect patient safety and strengthen the medical workforce. These efforts rarely make headlines, but their impact is profound.
As the AMA, physician leaders and health care advocates from around the country gather in Southern California this week for the AMA’s annual State Advocacy Summit, we are releasing the first “AMA State Advocacy Impact Report” (PDF). This new report captures the power of collaboration to advance policies that support physicians and protect patients at the state level.
From promoting physician-led, team-based care and physician well-being to pushing back against unfair payer practices, this report shows what’s possible when our profession speaks with a unified voice on the issues that most profoundly impact medicine today.
What stands out most is not any single policy win; it is the collective effort behind them. The AMA, state medical associations, specialty societies and physician advocates working in concert, sharing expertise, aligning priorities, and supporting one another. This is collaboration at its best, and it reflects the strength of a profession that understands we are more effective together than apart.
That unity matters now more than ever. With partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C., making federal action increasingly difficult, state legislatures have become the front lines of health care policy. Decisions made in statehouses today will shape how care is delivered for years to come. If physicians are not at the table, those decisions will move forward without our clinical insight.
Advocacy is our responsibility
Physicians are consistently among the most trusted voices in society. That trust is earned through experience, integrity, and a commitment to putting patients first. We cannot afford to leave that credibility unused. Advocacy is not separate from our professional responsibility; it is an extension of it.
The “AMA State Advocacy Impact Report” is a reminder of what can happen when physicians embrace that role and when organizations across medicine work together to amplify it. It is a blueprint for how we can continue to advance policies that strengthen patient care and the profession itself.
The challenges facing health care are significant, but so is our opportunity. By standing together, speaking clearly, and leading with our values, physicians can shape a future that works better for patients and those who care for them. And it starts by telling our own story.
