AMA House of Delegates Meeting Update

Dr. Nameer Haider gave an informative update about the AMA House of Delegates (HOD) meeting at the NANS Town Hall this summer. He focused on issues of interest to NANS members, including the use of Naloxone, non-compete contracts, telehealth, BMI measures and waist circumference for adults, artificial intelligence, prior authorizations and health system consolidation.  

• Naloxone – the AMA adopted policy for allowing teachers and students to have naloxone to prevent overdoses in schools. 
• Non-compete Contracts – the AMA supports a ban on non-compete contracts for physicians in clinical practice who are employed by large for-profit or nonprofit hospitals, hospital systems and medical staffing companies. Through strong advocacy from NANS delegates and other medical specialty groups at the HOD, the resolution narrows the scope to physicians, instead of all medical staff in practice.  
• Telehealth – Telehealth has been instrumental to patient care since the COVID-19 pandemic. The AMA supports policies among lawmakers that determine resources and training to maximize the benefits of telehealth; improve health outcomes among patients, and support policy for the permanent use of Telehealth in the medical setting.  
• BMI + Waist Circumstance Measures – AMA supports the use of BMI and waist circumference measures in adults to predict weight-related risk, except in children. For children, BMI-for-age continue to be the standard measure.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) – AMA continues to uphold its robust AI policy adopted in 2018.
• Prior-Authorizations – AMA advocates for oversight on the use of AI in the review of patient claims and prior-authorization requests, including insurance carriers’ review process. AMA also supports elimination of prior authorizations. The medical association advocates for insurers to use a thorough and fair vetting process that include the use of latest clinical data from national medical specialty society guidelines and peer-reviewed literature; review by experienced doctors and health care professionals who are not incentivized to deny claims; require review of human examination of patient records before they are denied. 
• Health System Consolidation – AMA will perform an annual study of the healthcare system consolidations. System consolidation may have the potential to affect private medical practices and alternate sites of care (ASCs).  

Listen in for more details from Dr. Haider.

The AMA House of Delegates is the policy-making body of the American Medical Association and represents state medical associations, national medical specialty societies, other AMA sections, national societies, professional interest medical associations, and federal health services. NANS Delegates are Dr. Nameer Haider and alternate delegate Dr. Brice Kessler.