The American Urological Association’s Delegates – Drs. Terry Grimm and Hans Arora, Alternate Delegates Drs. James Gilbaugh and Jason Jameson, Young Physician Section Delegate Dr. Clint Cary, and Resident/Fellow Section Delegate Dr. Ruchika Talwar – continued working with hundreds of physicians at the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HoD) 2021 Interim Meeting (virtual) to consider resolutions and reports covering clinical practice, payment, medical education, and public health topics. View our previous updates from the meeting.
On November 16, the AUA delegates spent another day in the general session where the House debated and voted on various measures. Here are some of the reports and resolutions of interest:
- Resolution 301 – Equitable Reporting of USMLE Step 1 Scores (Medical Students Section)
- This measure, which overwhelmingly passed the House, urges the AMA to work with appropriate stakeholders to release guidance for residency and fellowship program directors on equitably comparing students who received 3-digit United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 or Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination Level 1 scores and students who received Pass/Fail scores. Supporters testified that during the transition from numeric to pass/fail scoring, it is critical to both residency applicants and residency program personnel that no unintended consequences arise that would cause bias against individuals from either the scored or the pass/fail pool.
- Four separate Medicare payment resolutions (212, 221, 224, 225) were combined and considered as Resolution 212
- Looming payment cuts facing physician practices at the end of this year, including sequester and budget neutrality, must be addressed to ensure that practices can remain fiscally viable – particularly as physician practices have not yet recovered from the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. The upcoming cuts place an unreasonable burden on physician practices and severely impact patient access to care as many practices will struggle to keep their doors open. These sentiments were echoed by AUA delegate Dr. Hans Arora, who submitted written testimony in support of these measures over the weekend. Res. 212 was subsequently adopted by the House.
- Resolution 226 - Address Adolescent Telehealth Confidentiality Concerns (Michigan)
- This resolution amends existing AMA policy on Confidential Health Services to encourage physicians in a telehealth setting to offer a separate examination and counseling apart from others and to ensure that the adolescent is in a private space. Dr. Arora, who is a practicing pediatric urologist, spoke in favor of this measure during reference committee hearings. Res. 226 was ultimately adopted by the House.
- Resolution 234 – Permitting the Dispensing of Stock Medications for Post Discharge Patient Use and the Safe Use of Multi-dose Medications for Multiple Patients (Illinois, California, others)
- This measure urges the AMA to work with the Food and Drug Administration, national specialty societies, and other stakeholders to advocate for legislative and regulatory language that permits the practice of using multi dose medications postoperatively in accordance with safe handling and dispensing protocols that help ensure patient safety, minimize duplicated patient costs, and reduce medication waste. It was amended to expand the scope of multi dose medications such as injectables and topical medications and adopted by the House.
This concludes the virtual 2021 AMA HoD Interim Meeting. The next meeting will be the 2022 Annual Meeting and will take place from June 11-15 in Chicago, Illinois.