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Week of Aug. 21
CMS updates prior authorization transparency guidance in response to AMA recommendations
- An AMA review of how 15 Medicare Advantage contracts implemented the reporting provisions of the 2024 Interoperability and Prior Authorization final rule found that many payers appear to comply with the rule while presenting disclosures in places and formats that made them difficult or impossible to find or use. The updated guidance from CMS incorporates several recommendations from the AMA to address these problems.
AMA joins more than 210 leading medical, health and patient advocacy groups opposing recent Executive Order on childhood vaccines
- “As measles surges across the United States and as respiratory virus season approaches, families deserve clear guidance from federal health officials that is grounded in science and aimed at protecting children’s health,” says a coalition statement with the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Instead, the White House released an Executive Order that undermines confidence in childhood vaccinations and recommends changes that would leave children less protected and families more confused.”
View the Aug. 21 issue
Week of Aug. 14
AMA statement on executive order changing childhood vaccine schedule
- “Vaccines are among the most thoroughly studied, effective tools we have to protect children from serious vaccine-preventable diseases,” says a statement from AMA President Willie Underwood III, MD, MSc, MPH. “Altering a proven vaccination schedule without credible evidence risks weakening public confidence and putting children’s health at risk.”
Four huge Medicare pay reforms are part of new bipartisan House bill
- With more physician Medicare pay cuts proposed for 2027, a new comprehensive, bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would finally make structural changes that are needed to prevent those cuts and create a payment system that helps ensure that America’s seniors have access to quality, value-based healthcare. The AMA-supported Patients First Act (H.R. 9693) addresses four core reforms that the AMA and organized medicine have long sought from Washington. Urge your representative to cosponsor the Patients First Act.
View the Aug. 14 issue
Week of Aug. 7
AMA launches new awards program: Nominations now open
Aug. 7, 2026
Beginning in 2027, AMA Honors will present three marquee awards celebrating transformative innovation, public health leadership and trusted communication. The inaugural awards ceremony will be held Feb. 23, 2027, at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., during the AMA National Advocacy Conference. Nominations for the inaugural awards are now open and will be accepted through Nov. 2, 2026. To learn more about eligibility requirements and the nomination process, visit the AMA Honors web page.
Senate introduces Provider Reimbursement Stability Act
- Aug. 7, 2026
- S. 5180, a companion piece of legislation to H.R. 8163, which passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee unanimously earlier this year, would modernize Medicare’s physician fee schedule.
AMA calls on CMS to significantly rework Medicaid work requirements rule to prevent improper disenrollments and administrative burdens on patients and physicians
- Aug. 7, 2026
- The AMA urged CMS to revise the rule and expressed concerns that, as written, the rule will result in many eligible patients losing or being denied Medicaid coverage because they will be unable to navigate the complex administrative process required to demonstrate compliance or obtain an exemption.
View the Aug. 7 issue
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