As my time as AMA president comes to an end, I’m reflecting on what I’ve learned while spending more than two-thirds of the year on the road and talking to physicians across the country about their concerns.
Here’s what I know: A lot of crazy things happen in our world, and we may feel like we’re too busy, too distant or too small to make a difference. But I’ve seen time and again how that’s just not true. We can act as local leaders and make important changes in our communities.
I’m a firm believer that all health care is local. Health care happens with individuals and families in the communities where they live and work.
As physicians, we’re already viewed as trusted figures in our communities. People look to us for guidance, and we must capitalize on that position and push ourselves to be leaders, whether it’s in our medical associations, our practices or our communities.
Leadership can take many different forms. For instance, you can be the one driving quality improvement initiatives in your workplace or collaborating with your colleagues to implement a stronger model for delivering care. While you’re making important changes in your practice, we’re making sure you’ll have the insights and resources you need to improve your professional satisfaction and ensure practice sustainability.
Through our Professional Satisfaction and Practice Sustainability initiative, the AMA is developing practice-level solutions and working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and other regulatory bodies to make sure that your practice—whatever its size—can thrive in this current environment.
You also can become a leader in improving the health of your community, both through the work in your practice and in your personal interactions. You can be an example of healthy living and encourage your friends and neighbors to follow your lead. Lifestyle changes can be especially important for preventing devastating chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
We’re hard at work to make sure clinic-community linkages are established in a way that will change the tide for these two diseases. Our Improving Health Outcomes initiative currently is collaborating with physicians in pilot programs in four states that connect at-risk patients with community resources to prevent the onset of these diseases.
In addition, you can help shape the future of health care in this country by inspiring the next generation of physicians. You can encourage young people to consider careers in medicine and even mentor medical students. We’re seeing firsthand how our health care system is changing, and the AMA is taking steps to innovate new education models to properly prepare physicians of the future through our Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative.
We all are so busy that it can be hard to step back from our daily grind to think about what we can do to improve our world beyond our day-to-day routines. The task may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. We can start with small steps in our communities that can lead to big improvements. By integrating into our communities, we can be not only healers but also guides, advocates and instructors.
Last year around this time, I was giving my inaugural address to the AMA House of Delegates in Chicago, driving home this truth: The future of health care is in our hands.
This Saturday, when I’m giving my last address as AMA president, I’ll deliver a similar message: At the end of the day, health care is local. If we want to improve health care in our country, we have to start at home.
