AMA in the News: June 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. Emergency doctors, nurses relieved but not satisfied with Supreme Court ruling on abortion care

   1. Chief Healthcare Executive, June 28, 2024
   2. Bobby Mukkamala, MD, president-elect of the American Medical Association, said Thursday that he was “relieved” the ruling will allow doctors in Idaho to perform abortions in emergencies. But he also said the court ruling leaves the larger issue of the strength of the federal emergency law unsettled.

2. CMS aims to shield docs from billions in suspect spending

   1. Politico, June 28, 2024
   2. The group and the American Medical Association, the doctors’ group, wrote to CMS in February asking the agency to ensure that the suspicious spending won’t affect ACOs’ spending targets.

3. Transforming blood donation: Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld on inclusivity efforts and the Summer of Giving campaign

   1. NBC News Now, June 27, 2024
   2. Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH: 'Well, it's a long-overdue and exciting change. As you know, the FDA is the agency that regulates blood donations in the U.S. Last May, they made a change to a longstanding ban on people like me, gay men, from donating blood.'

4. Mass shootings take a collective toll on our mental health

   1. Politico, June 27, 2024
   2. “The data now show it touches the majority of U.S. adults,” Bruce Scott, MD, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement, in which he called the advisory an “evidence-based public health approach to addressing firearm violence.”

5. Prior authorizations often denied, adding to provider burden

   1. RevCycle Intelligence, June 24, 2024
   2. “The time is now for Congress to adopt reintroduced prior authorization reform legislation that prioritizes patients’ access to care, reduces administrative burdens on physicians, and preserves resources for high-quality care,” writes AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD, in a viewpoint article accompanying the survey.

6. AMA's Jack Resneck on abortion bans impacting OBGYN residency decisions

   1. NBC, June 23, 2024
   2. Jack Resneck, MD: ‘We're seeing physicians and students, literally in the middle of emergencies when seconds count, have to call hospital attorneys to say, okay, is a 40% chance of death. Is a pregnant patient who's about to lose their kidney function as a result of us not being able to do the care that we need to do during their miscarriage, is that enough to qualify under these new state laws to provide the care? Students are just befuddled, and residents are feeling the same way. It's part of why we're seeing a reduction, I think, in their desire to train in these states that have put in these draconian restrictive laws.'..."

7. Medicare Pay, prior auth, and more: A Q&A with the AMA's president-elect

   1. MedPage Today, June 20, 2024
   2. As the president-elect of the American Medical Association (AMA), Bobby Mukkamala (pronounced "moo-COM-ala"), MD, an otolaryngologist in Flint, Michigan, will be working on the association's top priorities like better Medicare reimbursement for doctors and decreased use of prior authorization by insurers, but he also has another top priority of his own.

8. Access to health care limited in SD rural and reservation areas

   1. South Dakota News Watch, June 17, 2024
   2. "Rural health is America's health, and we need policymakers to understand that the American Medical Association (AMA) is deeply concerned about the ever-widening health disparities between urban and rural communities," Bruce A. Scott, MD, president-elect of the AMA, said in a recent online conference attended by News Watch.

9. Fix what's broken in health care is new AMA president's priority

   1. MedPage Today, June 17, 2024
   2. Fixing the health care system's problems will be a top priority of American Medical Association (AMA) President Bruce Scott, MD, an otolaryngologist from Louisville, Kentucky, who was sworn into his new position on June 8 at the AMA's annual House of Delegates (HOD) meeting in Chicago.

10. U.S. Supreme Court: Mifepristone abortion drug remains legal with no new restrictions

    1. Healio, June 14, 2024
    2. “The American Medical Association applauds today’s unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that preserves access to mifepristone for millions of women across the country,” a press release from the AMA stated. “Efforts to second guess the FDA’s scientific judgment and roll back access to mifepristone were based on a sham case that not only lacked standing, but relied on speculative allegations and ideological assertions to undermine decades of rigorous scientific review proving the drug is highly safe and effective for both termination of pregnancy and for medical management of miscarriage.”

11. Physician alarmed by concerning health trends in rural America

    1. High Plains Journal, June 14, 2024
    2. “More than 15% of the U.S. population, 46 million people, live in rural areas,” said Bruce Scott, MD, president-elect of the American Medical Association. “That means when you add it all up, the people and the families living in those small towns, farms and ranches across the country, you’re talking about a population that exceeds the people living in America’s largest 20 cities combined.” 

12. New AMA president says he's ready to take on big challenges facing doctors amid payment cuts and rising burnout rates

    1. Fierce Healthcare, June 13, 2024
    2. Bruce Scott, MD, took the reins of the American Medical Association (AMA) for his first full day on Wednesday, June 12, succeeding immediate past president Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH.

13. 'Our patients deserve better': AMA adopts policies to protect health care access

    1. Healio, June 13, 2024
    2. The AMA adopted policies to protect patients’ access to necessary health care in a variety of ways at its annual meeting. The organization’s House of Delegates endorsed policies regarding affordable prescriptions, medical-legal partnerships, support for in vitro fertilization and ethical patient data use, according to a press release.

14. Increase $$ for physicians, institute site-neutral payment, MedPAC Report suggests

    1. MedPage Today, June 13, 2024
    2. "We commend MedPAC for recognizing an unsustainable combination: an inadequate baseline and a lack of an inflation-based update," American Medical Association (AMA) president Bruce Scott, MD, said in a statement Thursday. "However, the AMA remains concerned that an update less than the full inflation rate, as is the case with both approaches under MedPAC's consideration, would force physicians to make difficult choices about how to keep the lights on and care for America's seniors and persons with disabilities."

15. The AMA will 'fight for our profession and our patients,' says new president

    1. Medpage Today, June 12, 2024
    2. Bruce Scott, MD, an otolaryngologist from Louisville, Kentucky, was sworn in Tuesday evening as the American Medical Association's (AMA) 179th president; he promised to "fight for our profession [and] fight for our patients."

16. AMA taps new president-elect

    1. Becker’s Hospital Review, June 10, 2024
    2. The American Medical Association named Bobby Mukkamala, MD, an otolaryngologist from Flint, Michigan, its new president-elect.

17. AMA President on cyberattacks, reimbursement woes and more signs of a system in crisis

    1. Medscape, June 10, 2024
    2. The president of the American Medical Association (AMA), Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, sat with Medscape editors for a wide-ranging conversation about his term in office. (Free registration is required to view content.)

18. Louisville’s Bruce Scott new president of American Medical Association ‘ready to fight’ for doctors

    1. Northern Kentucky Tribune, June 9, 2024
    2. “We can’t afford to lose even one more doctor! As a physician in an independent practice, I live these issues every day. I see my colleagues struggling. I feel the urgency of the moment. I will bring that urgency to my presidency. You better believe I’m ready to fight.” 

19. You can help reverse the overdose epidemic

    1. Vox, June 3, 2024
    2. Bobby Mukkamala, MD, is the chair of the American Medical Association's Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force. 'There's the legacy of that stigma that affects everything from law enforcement's approach to it, to the community's approach to it, to individuals' willingness to deal with it. We need to promote and facilitate the intersection of the use with the resources to help curb that use.'

20. As doctors reel from cyberattack, AMA ponders actions against UnitedHealth

    1. Forbes, June 3, 2024
    2. Doctors want the American Medical Association to look into legal actions and ways for physicians to recoup financial losses in the wake of a cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare unit. (Publication subscription is required for full or unlimited access.)