American Medical Association

AMA: Advocating for Medicare, military and fiscal responsibility

February 14, 2012Feb 14, 20123

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. This week, I’m joining hundreds of physicians and medical students in Washington, DC during the American Medical Association’s National Advocacy Conference to talk to our federal lawmakers about an…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

This week, I’m joining hundreds of physicians and medical students in Washington, DC during the American Medical Association’s National Advocacy Conference to talk to our federal lawmakers about an end to what has become an annual chore of stopping drastic scheduled Medicare physician payment cuts to preserve access to health care for seniors and military families. This year, a 27 percent …

AMA: A new model of patient care

January 17, 2012Jan 17, 20124

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Let me start by wishing you and your families a very happy and healthy new year. This is my first column of 2012 for this blog, and I am…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Let me start by wishing you and your families a very happy and healthy new year. This is my first column of 2012 for this blog, and I am excited to talk about a new initiative that is beginning this year. Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been discussed at length since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Until recently, …

AMA: A new model of patient care

AMA: New policies that will impact the future of medicine

December 14, 2011Dec 14, 2011

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Last month, physicians from all states and specialties came together for the American Medical Association’s (AMA) semi-annual policy-making meeting to adopt new policies that will impact the future of…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Last month, physicians from all states and specialties came together for the American Medical Association’s (AMA) semi-annual policy-making meeting to adopt new policies that will impact the future of medicine. Of the new policies, some of the many noteworthy topics include national drug shortages, health insurance exchanges, private contracting and the implementation of the ICD-10.

Recent increases in the number of national …

AMA: Health insurance monopolies hurt patients and physicians

November 16, 2011Nov 16, 20116

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Anyone making a major purchase wants to maximize value by exploring their options. Shopping for the best option drives market competition and promotes innovation and efficiency. Shopping for competitive…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Anyone making a major purchase wants to maximize value by exploring their options. Shopping for the best option drives market competition and promotes innovation and efficiency. Shopping for competitive health insurance options can be difficult when a market is controlled by one or two large commercial insurers. The lack a competitive commercial health insurance market is a problem in four out …

AMA: Act quickly on Medicare deadlines

October 14, 2011Oct 14, 2011

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. There are several upcoming deadlines that are critical to physicians who care for Medicare patients. November 1, November 23 and January 1 are dates that should be marked on…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

There are several upcoming deadlines that are critical to physicians who care for Medicare patients. November 1, November 23 and January 1 are dates that should be marked on all of our calendars.

The deadline for physicians to apply for a hardship exemption in order to avoid the 2012 Medicare ePrescribing penalty is fast approaching. Under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid …

AMA: Act quickly on Medicare deadlines

AMA: A new opportunity to fix the SGR

September 15, 2011Sep 15, 2011

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Every year since 2001 the threat of severe physician payment cuts, imposed by Medicare’s failed sustainable growth rate formula (SGR), have jeopardized the stability of the Medicare system and…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Every year since 2001 the threat of severe physician payment cuts, imposed by Medicare’s failed sustainable growth rate formula (SGR), have jeopardized the stability of the Medicare system and compromised access to care for patients. And every year – sometimes several times a year – Congress has put in place short-term fixes to stall the cuts.

Elected officials know that allowing these …

AMA: A new opportunity to fix the SGR

Health technology

AMA working to improve e-prescribing incentives and help physicians adopt health IT

August 11, 2011Aug 11, 2011

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Health IT holds the promise of improving the efficiency of a physician’s practice, but physicians can easily become overwhelmed by the broad range of products and the multiple, varying…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Health IT holds the promise of improving the efficiency of a physician’s practice, but physicians can easily become overwhelmed by the broad range of products and the multiple, varying federal incentive and penalty programs currently underway. The American Medical Association (AMA) continues to be in close contact with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), advocating for changes to the …

AMA: Health insurers’ denial rates are down, but error rates are up

July 21, 2011Jul 21, 20113

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Billions of dollars in administrative waste would be eliminated each year if health insurers sent a timely, accurate and specific response to each physician claim, and while this year’s…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Billions of dollars in administrative waste would be eliminated each year if health insurers sent a timely, accurate and specific response to each physician claim, and while this year’s AMA National Health Insurer Report Card shows promising improvements in denial rates, more work needs to be done.

The AMA’s fourth annual check-up of the nation’s health insurers shows that claims denial rates …

AMA: Revisions, clarity needed before physicians form Medicare ACOs

June 9, 2011Jun 9, 2011

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. There is said to be an old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. As I wrap up my year traveling the country as President of the AMA,…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

There is said to be an old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. As I wrap up my year traveling the country as President of the AMA, I can without a doubt say physicians are living – and practicing medicine – in interesting times. This can be a challenge, but does not need to be a curse.

There are …

AMA: Individual responsibility for health insurance helps America’s patients, pocketbooks

May 12, 2011May 12, 201126

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. A wise physician once said, "Health is not valued til sickness comes." The same can certainly be said about health insurance. This concept is at the heart of our…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

A wise physician once said, “Health is not valued til sickness comes.” The same can certainly be said about health insurance.

This concept is at the heart of our current debate about individual responsibility for health insurance coverage. While we hope never to need surgery or chemotherapy or to have an unexpected accident or illness, it’s certain that many of …

AMA: Getting the best value for our health care dollars

April 14, 2011Apr 14, 20117

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. As physicians, many of us realize on some level that our practices contribute to our state and national economies - we just lacked the empirical evidence to understand how…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

As physicians, many of us realize on some level that our practices contribute to our state and national economies – we just lacked the empirical evidence to understand how much.

That changed last month, when the American Medical Association released a report that studied the economic impact of office-based physicians. While a handful of states have previously studied the economic impact …

AMA push against Medicare recovery audit overreach

March 10, 2011Mar 10, 20118

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has pushed back the April 1 deadline for states to implement their Medicaid recovery audit contractor (RAC) programs until an unspecified…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has pushed back the April 1 deadline for states to implement their Medicaid recovery audit contractor (RAC) programs until an unspecified time later this year. The implementation delay was welcomed by the American Medical Association (AMA) and other national physician organizations who have vocally urged CMS to improve its proposed Medicaid RAC …

American Medical Association & Ardis D. Hoven, MD

Physicians’ voices heard through AMA advocacy activities in Washington, DC

February 10, 2011Feb 10, 20113

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. by Ardis Dee Hoven, MD This week, hundreds of physicians and medical students converged in Washington, D.C., for the AMA’s annual National Advocacy Conference. The current and future physicians…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

by Ardis Dee Hoven, MD

This week, hundreds of physicians and medical students converged in Washington, D.C., for the AMA’s annual National Advocacy Conference. The current and future physicians learned about and discussed key legislative issues, including how new policy will impact physician practices, and heard from officials including CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, M.D., MPP. The participants also visited elected leaders …

AMA: Help physicians across the world gain access to stethoscopes

January 17, 2011Jan 17, 2011

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. As physicians in the United States of America, most of us take stethoscopes for granted. A stethoscope is among the most basic and essential of all medical instruments, but…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

As physicians in the United States of America, most of us take stethoscopes for granted. A stethoscope is among the most basic and essential of all medical instruments, but in many parts of the world access to stethoscopes is severely limited.

WorldScopes is a global, philanthropic initiative of the American Medical Association Foundation that works with leading humanitarian organizations to collect …

Patient voices

AMA helps physicians care for patients

December 9, 2010Dec 9, 20102

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. As the nation’s largest physician organization, the American Medical Association (AMA) is uniquely positioned to help physicians thrive in medical practice throughout the stages of their careers. Because the…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

As the nation’s largest physician organization, the American Medical Association (AMA) is uniquely positioned to help physicians thrive in medical practice throughout the stages of their careers.

Because the AMA is led by physicians, we understand the many demands and rigors physicians face as they work to provide high-quality patient care, and we are proud to support physicians in their …

AMA helps physicians care for patients

AMA: Patients and physicians call on Congress to stop Medicare cut

November 11, 2010Nov 11, 201012

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Medicare physician payment cuts are once again looming in the immediate future, with a cut of 25 percent now threatening to hurt access to care for seniors and military…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

Medicare physician payment cuts are once again looming in the immediate future, with a cut of 25 percent now threatening to hurt access to care for seniors and military families. As many doctors know all too well, the looming cut is forcing physicians to make difficult decisions about the continuing role Medicare can play in their practices.

The AMA is working on …

AMA makes physician health a priority

October 21, 2010Oct 21, 2010

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. As physicians, we prioritize the health of others often at the expense of our own health. Our patients’ health is our priority and why we chose the profession of…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

As physicians, we prioritize the health of others often at the expense of our own health. Our patients’ health is our priority and why we chose the profession of medicine. The International Conference on Physician Health, held earlier this month in Chicago, gave physicians the opportunity to make their health a priority and provided them with tools to make …

AMA makes physician health a priority

Medical education

AMA: Ensuring medical education best prepares future physicians

American Medical Association & J. James Rohack, MD

September 16, 2010Sep 16, 20103

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. by J. James Rohack, MD This year marks the 100th anniversary of the landmark Flexner Report that standardized medical education in North America. Now, during this historic time of…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

by J. James Rohack, MD

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the landmark Flexner Report that standardized medical education in North America. Now, during this historic time of health system change, medical education reforms on the scale of those enacted a century ago are needed to achieve a sustainable 21st-century. Preparing the next generation of …

Health technology

AMA: A roadmap to qualifying for EHR incentives

American Medical Association & Steven J. Stack, MD

August 12, 2010Aug 12, 2010

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. by Steven J. Stack, MD The high cost of an electronic health record (EHR) system, the often challenging process of implementing new technology into a physician practice, and the…

A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

by Steven J. Stack, MD

The high cost of an electronic health record (EHR) system, the often challenging process of implementing new technology into a physician practice, and the difficulty in deciding which system best meets a practice’s needs have deterred many physicians from embracing EHRs.

But with the recent release of the final …

AMA health insurer report card finds need for more accuracy