AMA 2023: New AMA Policy on Medical Legislation
First, Resolution 201, which was authored by delegates from the American Urological Association (AUA) and the American Association of Clinical Urologists (AACU) was originally titled as “Pharmacists Prescribing for Urinary Tract Infections.” The proposed policy was written to provide a directive to the AMA to advocate against pharmacists being able to autonomously diagnose and prescribe antibiotics for UTIs without a patient being evaluated by a physician or receiving a prescription from a provider. Recent proposed legislation in several states, including Virginia, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Mississippi, New Mexico. and Montana, would allow pharmacists to order, test, screen, and treat various health conditions, including urinary tract infections. During reference committee hearings, there was widespread support for this resolution from the AMA membership, and the policy was actually expanded to include all medical conditions, and renamed as such: “Opposition to Pharmacists Testing, Diagnosing, and Treating Medical Conditions.”
Resolution 254, “Eliminating the Party Statement Exception in Quality Assurance Proceeding” asked the AMA to advocate to protect quality assurance and quality improvement activities, such as morbidity and mortality conferences, from being discoverable during malpractice suits and legal proceedings. Notably, the HOD also adopted new policy reaffirming the AMA’s commitment to Medicare physician payment reform as an urgency legislative priority, increased budget allocation to ensure payments to physicians annually increase at minimum to keep up with inflation using the Medicare Economic Index, and ensure annual reports on progress to meet these goals until a sustainable, fair payment system has been implemented by Congress.
Lastly, additional policy of interest to urology that was passed in this session including support for and educating the public on the benefit of physician-owned hospitals, as well as policy asking for the study and development of recommendations on implementing augmented intelligence (AI) and healthcare.
Written By: Ruchika Talwar, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, @RuchikaTalwarMD during the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting, June 9 to June 14