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CMA physicians travel to D.C. to advocate on critical health care issues

A California Medical Association (CMA) contingent of two dozen physician and medical student leaders recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the American Medical Association’s (AMA) National Advocacy Week. They met with 24 members of the California Congressional Delegation and top leadership of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to advocate for many health care issues critically important to California physicians.  While in Washington, California physicians focused on promoting the bipartisan Affordable Care Act (ACA) market stabilization bill that would reinstate the cost-sharing reduction payments and ...

Call for nominations: California Delegation to the AMA

The California Medical Association (CMA) is seeking nominations for physicians to serve as at-large delegates and alternates to the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates. Current delegates who are eligible for reappointment must submit an application for the 2018 term. They will not be reappointed if a form is not submitted. We are seeking physicians who are active CMA members and able to serve as delegates or alternates twice a year during the annual (June) and interim (November) meetings of the AMA House of Delegates for a two-year term ...

AMA urges quick action to stabilize individual insurance market

With the window quickly closing to properly price individual insurance products for 2018, the American Medical Association (AMA) is urging President Trump and Congressional leaders to commit to continued funding for the cost-sharing reductions that are critical to stabilizing the individual market. AMA, along with other groups representing insurers, hospitals, health plan purchasers and physicians, sent a letter urging quick action to deliver short-term stability and affordable coverage while broader marketplace stabilization efforts are developed. Nearly 60 percent of all individuals who purchase coverage via the exchange receive financial assistance to ...

AMA strengthens anti-tobacco policies

The American Medical Association (AMA) adopted policies at its interim meeting reaffirming the commitment of our nation's physicians to preventing tobacco use. The policies ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require tobacco companies to add graphic warning labels depicting the negative health consequences of smoking to all cigarette packages and call for raising the minimum legal purchase age of all tobacco products to 21. California earlier this year passed a California Medical Association (CMA)-sponsored law that would raise California's smoking age to 21, as part of the most ...

AMA introduces new MACRA payment model evaluator

The American Medical Association (AMA) has introduced a new online tool to help physicians evaluate the various new Medicare payment models and improve their opportunities for success under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which will go into effect in 2017. The AMA Payment Model Evaluator is a free interactive tool offering initial assessments to help physicians determine how their practices will be impacted by MACRA. Once physicians or medical practice administrators fill out the online questionnaire, they will receive guidance on participating in the MACRA ...

AMA publishes guide to physician-focused alternative payment models

The legislation that repealed the Medicare sustainable growth rate—the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA)—created major new opportunities to advance alternative payment models (APM). Starting in 2019, MACRA will provide a 5 percent annual bonus payment to physicians who participate in APMs and it exempts them from participating in the fee-for-service meaningful use and quality reporting programs (MACRA's Merit-Based Incentive Payment System). In addition to accountable care organizations, medical homes and bundled payments for hospital-based episodes, MACRA also provides for the development of “physician-focused” APMs. The American Medical Association ...

Former CMA president throws hat in ring for AMA vice speaker

James T. Hay, M.D., 2012 California Medical Association (CMA) president, last week officially began his campaign for the position of vice speaker of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD). The San Diego family physician began his long association with the AMA in 1986 as a delegate to the association’s Hospital Medical Staff Section. For more than a decade, he has been a delegate to the AMA HOD, while also serving as vice speaker, speaker, president-elect and, ultimately, president at CMA. In 2012, Dr. Hay was selected to serve ...

AMA asks feds to decouple EHR certification from meaningful use

The American Medical Association (AMA) has sent a letter to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Karen B. DeSalvo, M.D., urging that the certification of electronic health records (EHR) be decoupled from meaningful use certification requirements. “Unfortunately, we believe the meaningful use certification requirements are contributing to EHR system problems, and we are worried about the downstream effects on patient safety,” the letter said. “Many physicians find these systems cumbersome, do not meet their workflow needs, decrease efficiency, and have a limited, if any, interoperability,” the letter said. “”Most ...

Highlights from AMA's 2014 interim meeting

The nation’s physicians gathered at the 2014 American Medical Association (AMA) interim meeting in Dallas, Texas, this past week. The delegates debated a large number of resolutions, establishing new policies related to the worldwide Ebola epidemic, expanded network access for the Affordable Care Act and electronic health records. A number of these resolutions were put forward by the California delegation. Below are highlights of some of the resolutions adopted as policy. Ebola: Resolution 925 put forth by the California delegation was incorporated into AMA policy that calls on AMA to ...

AMA introduces tool that allows physicians to pinpoint underserved patient care areas

The American Medical Association (AMA) announced today that it was introducing a mapping tool that lets physicians see the distribution of physicians and nonphysician clinicians by specialty, state, county or metropolitan area. Called the Health Workforce Mapper, AMA believes the tool will be useful to physicians so they can identify the best locations to establish or expand a medical practice based on regional needs for access to care and the existing health care workforce. The tool can identify and prioritize underserved areas; create and display ratios of physicians and nonphysician clinicians to ...