AMA in the News: July 2023

AMA in the News covers media coverage and mentions about the American Medical Association. Find articles recognizing our efforts in health care, advocacy, medical education and improvements in public health. Read coverage on the achievements of our leadership and the members of the AMA community.

1. AHA, BCBSA urge CMS to ditch 'conflicting' requirements in prior authorization reform proposal

   1. Fierce Healthcare, July 31, 2023
   2. The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s joint letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure addresses proposed rule-making released by the agency in Dec. 2022.

2. AHIP, AMA, NAACOs team on playbook for value-based care

   1. Fierce Healthcare, July 26, 2023
   2. AHIP, the American Medical Association and the National Association of ACOs have teamed up to release a playbook that aims to arm stakeholders with best practices for value-based care. “This is not a product produced in the ivory tower,” said AMA President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, in a statement. “Working together, they came up with a plan to improve patient care going forward. That teamwork, often seen in the clinical setting, proved invaluable in this setting as well.”

3. Milwaukee doctor now leading American Medical Association, new guidance on using Body Mass Index

   1. Wisconsin Public Radio, July 24, 2023
   2. The American Medical Association inducted Milwaukee's own Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, as the organization's new president last month. He speaks about pressing issues facing health care.

4. Meet Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld: A Jewish veteran, and the first openly gay president of the AMA

   1. Jewish Journal, July 21, 2023
   2. “Dr. Ehrenfeld: We’ve got a lot of challenges in health care today. Despite our health care system being in crisis. Despite so many of my colleagues being burned out and at their breaking point, I remain optimistic about the future, about what lies ahead. We can get this right and we can’t yield.”

5. Docs shift to larger, hospital-owned practices to have more negotiation power with payers, AMA analysis finds

   1. Fierce Healthcare, July 18, 2023
   2. Between 2012 and 2022 the share of physicians working in private practices fell by 13 percentage points from 60.1% to 46.7%.
   3. In contrast, the share of physicians working in hospitals as direct employees or contractors increased from 5.6% to 9.6% in the same 10-year time period and the share of physicians working in practices at least partially owned by a hospital or health system increased from 23.4% to 31.3%, according to a benchmark analysis the American Medical Association.

6. Opinion: AI tools are impressive, but they can’t replace the physician brain

   1. Modern Healthcare, July 18, 2023
   2. AMA updated its existing policies on AI at the 2023 annual meeting in Chicago in June. The new policies call on the AMA to develop principles and recommendations on the benefits and risks about the use of AI-enabled tools in medicine, work with lawmakers and policymakers to create badly needed standards for development and help educate patients about this new technology as it advances. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

7. AMA: Physicians have moved from private to hospital-owned practices

   1. RevCycle Intelligence, July 17, 2023
   2. “The AMA analysis shows that the shift away from independent practices is emblematic of the fiscal uncertainty and economic stress many physicians face due to statutory payment cuts in Medicare, rising practice costs, and intrusive administrative burdens,” Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, president of AMA, said.

8. Docs urge Congress to step in as CMS proposes 'biblical' cuts to their payments

   1. Fierce Healthcare, July 17, 2023
   2. Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, president of the American Medical Association (AMA), said in a statement that the latest fee schedule proposal is "a critical reminder that patients and physicians desperately need Congress to develop a permanent solution that addresses the financial instability and threatens access to care."

9. Proposed cuts to Medicare physician payments spark calls for overhaul

   1. Modern Healthcare, July 14, 2023
   2. "Momentum is building for reform,” Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. According to AMA's calculations, he said that Medicare physician payment has effectively declined 26% from 2001 to 2023. “Physicians are one of the only providers without an automatic inflationary increase,” Ehrenfeld said. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

10. Burnout is causing doctors to leave medicine. Here’s how to help them stay.

    1. Boston Globe, July 13, 2023
    2. As part of our Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians, the American Medical Association is pushing for legislative fixes in state legislatures and Congress to remove the most common burdens physicians encounter, such as the onerous prior authorization process in which insurers commonly require hours of paperwork before patients get approved for the care recommended by their physician. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

11. F.D.A. approves first U.S. over-the-counter birth control pill

    1. New York Times, July 13, 2023
    2. The move to make a nonprescription pill available for all ages had received widespread support from specialists in reproductive and adolescent health and groups like the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Family Physicians. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

12. The two words that can make health care a nightmare

    1. New York Magazine, July 10, 2023
    2. Last year, the AMA conducted a survey (PDF) of 1,001 physicians on the effects of prior authorization and found that the typical physician submits 45 prior authorizations per week, with some of them hiring extra staff to help with the administrative burden. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

13. AMA president: AI will not replace doctors

    1. Politico, July 10, 2023
    2. “It is clear to me that AI will never replace physicians — but physicians who use AI will replace those who don’t,” Ehrenfeld, who has a background in informatics and digital health, told POLITICO’s Daniel Payne.

14. Inaction on Medicare payment reform jeopardizes quality care

    1. The Hill, July 6, 2023
    2. According to an American Medical Association (AMA) analysis (PDF) of Medicare Trustees data, Medicare physician payments only increased by 9 percent between 2001 and 2023, or just 0.4 percent per year. Meanwhile, the cost of running a medical practice—including office rent, employee wages, and insurance premiums—went up by 47 percent during that same period.

15. AMA chief on doctor pay, Congress and ‘backseat drivers’

    1. Politico, July 6, 2023
    2. “Dr. Ehrenfeld: We’ve got a health care system in crisis. And as president, I’m going to continue to help the AMA lead our charge to prioritize our recovery plan, which includes reforming Medicare payments to physicians, improving telehealth and reducing the stigma around mental health care and burnout.”

16. With end of affirmative action, a push for a new tool: Adversity Scores

    1. New York Times, July 2, 2023
    2. Children of doctors are 24 times more likely to become doctors than their peers, according to the American Medical Association. And patients have better outcomes when treated by doctors from similar backgrounds, said Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, president of the American Medical Association. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)