AMA in the News: July 2024

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. Why Congress should change how Medicare pays physicians

   1. Forbes, July 29, 2024
   2. Once CMS announces reduced RVU values, individual physicians and the American Medical Association lobby Congress vigorously. Lawmakers almost always bend to the political pressure, increasing reimbursements for doctors. The combination of restored payments plus a higher volume of services drives total Medicare costs even higher. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

2. Physicians step up pressure for Congress to increase Medicare pay, CMS rules on deck 

   1. Inside Health Policy, July 29, 2024
   2. As the House broke early for recess last week, the American Medical Association and more than a 120 other provider lobbies reminded lawmakers of what physicians' view as an urgent need to block the at least 2.8% pay cut slated to go into effect Jan. 1, 2025, and to overhaul the Medicare physician fee schedule in general. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

3. Online portals deliver scary health news before doctors can weigh in

   1. Washington Post, July 26, 2024
   2. The American Medical Association has been lobbying federal health officials, unsuccessfully, to adopt a rule providing physicians 72 hours to reach patients before electronically releasing life-altering results or deadly diagnoses. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

4. AMA spearheads massive push for physician pay reform

   1. Inside Health Policy, July 25, 2024
   2. The American Medical Association has spearheaded a letter to congressional leaders, signed by 126 other state and national provider groups, highlighting the at least 2.8% pay cut doctors will see Jan. 1 unless Congress steps in, and to press what physicians say is an urgent need to overhaul the Medicare pay payment system so that it accurately reflects the costs of practicing medicine. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

5. Health insurance authorizations & their real consequences

   1. WFTV Orlando, July 22, 2024
   2. The AMA recently surveyed a thousand physicians. 94 percent claimed prior authorizations delayed necessary care. 93 percent said it negatively impacted patients and nearly a quarter said these authorizations caused serious medical problems.
   3. “Physicians are fed up with it. Physicians just want to take care of patients. That’s why we all became physicians in the first place. And this burden that is placed upon us, it’s gotten worse every year,” said Bruce Scott, MD.

6. Doctors face a mid-career grind

   1. Politico, July 19, 2024
   2. The likelihood of a doctor burning out could depend on how long they’ve practiced medicine, according to a new report from the American Medical Association covering 2023 survey data.
   3. Physicians in mid-career, with between six and 15 years beyond residency and fellowship training under their belts, are at the highest risk, with more than half having at least one symptom of burnout, the AMA found.

7. New pneumonia vaccine gets CDC nod: Should you get it?

   1. Everyday Health, July 19, 2024
   2. “Pneumococcal disease is a leading killer of older people and if you don’t get vaccinated, you’re at increased risk that it could be a life-ending event,” says internist Sandra Fryhofer, MD, the American Medical Association’s liaison to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which unanimously recommended the new Capaxive vaccine.

8. An AI education is becoming easier to get

   1. Politico, July 15, 2024
   2. Additionally, the American Medical Association has developed continuing medical education in AI for doctors.

9. Head of AMA talks to Iowa physicians about worrisome scarcity of rural doctors

   1. Radio Iowa, July 12, 2024
   2. The president of the American Medical Association is in Iowa today to address the state’s top doctors about key health care issues, including Iowa’s worsening shortage of rural physicians.
   3. Bruce Scott, MD, is an otolaryngologist and head and neck surgery specialist with a private practice in Louisville, Kentucky. Scott says one of his priorities as AMA president is to seek out ways to turn around the exodus of experienced doctors from our nation’s rural areas.

10. Urgent need to address rural doctor shortage, national medical leader says in Iowa

    1. The Gazette, July 12, 2024
    2. “All of us became physicians to take care of patients, and that’s getting more and more difficult to do,” Bruce Scott, MD, said Friday during an interview at the Iowa Medical Society’s office. “The health care system should help us deliver quality of care and instead it’s getting in the way.”

11. Proposed physician pay decrease: 'Death by a thousand cuts continues'

    1. Healthcare Finance News, July 12, 2024
    2. American Medical Association president Bruce A. Scott, MD, said, "With CMS estimating a fifth consecutive year of Medicare payment reductions—this time by 2.8%—it's evident that Congress must solve this problem. In addition to the cut, CMS predicts that the Medicare Economic Index (MEI)—the measure of practice cost inflation—will increase by 3.6%. Facing this widening gap between what Medicare pays physicians and the cost of delivering quality care to patients, physicians are urging Congress to pass a reform package that would permanently strengthen Medicare."

12. Hospitals, doctors bash Medicare proposals

    1. Chief Healthcare Executive, July 11, 2024
    2. Bruce A. Scott, MD, president of the American Medical Association, points out that it’s the fifth consecutive year Medicare has planned a reduction in payments for doctors. “The death by a thousand cuts continues,” Scott said in a statement. Scott also contrasts that proposal with the projected 3.6% increase in the Medicare Economic Index, essentially the estimated cost of inflation.
    3. “Facing this widening gap between what Medicare pays physicians and the cost of delivering quality care to patients, physicians are urging Congress to pass a reform package that would permanently strengthen Medicare,” Scott said in a statement.

13. Doctors could see almost 3% Medicare cut in 2025

    1. Axios, July 11, 2024
    2. "The consecutive years of Medicare cuts demand a comprehensive legislative solution. Previous quick fixes have been insufficient—this situation requires a bold, substantial approach," Bruce Scott, MD, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement.

14. In constant battle with insurers, doctors reach for a cudgel: A.I.

    1. New York Times, July 10, 2024
    2. Doctors and their staff spend an average of 12 hours a week submitting prior-authorization requests, a process widely considered burdensome and detrimental to patient health among physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association (PDF). (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)

15. Doctors sound alarm over ‘dangerous’ payment cuts in proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

    1. Cardiovascular Business, July 10, 2024
    2. The American Medical Association (AMA), which often leads efforts to bring about Medicare payment reform, shared a similar perspective.
    3. “The death by a thousand cuts continues,” said AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD. “Rural physicians and those treating underserved populations see this CMS warning as another reminder of the painful challenges they face in keeping their practices open and providing care. It’s crucial that we ensure both continue.”

16. Physician burnout rates improve

    1. Axios, July 8, 2024
    2. Physician burnout rates have dipped below 50% for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to survey data from the American Medical Association.

17. Here's why a proposal for prior authorization CPT codes returned to the drawing board

    1. Fierce Healthcare, July 8, 2024
    2. In 2021, the AMA revamped the codes and guidelines for outpatient evaluation and management services in its CPT handbook.

18. $1 billion gift to make Johns Hopkins medical school free for most

    1. Washington Post, July 8, 2024
    2. Too many students don’t even consider medical school because of the cost, said Sanjay Desai, MD, the chief academic officer at the American Medical Association.
    3. Health outcomes are improved, he said, when physicians reflect the diversity of patients they treat. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)