DAY 3 Blog (Monday, June 13)
AUA Delegates, Drs. Hans Arora and Jason Jameson; AUA Resident/Fellow Section Delegate, Dr. Ruchika Talwar; and AUA Gallagher Scholar Dr. Brian Duty joined hundreds of physicians at the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HoD) 2022 Annual Meeting to consider resolutions and reports covering clinical practice, payment, medical education, and public health topics. View our previous updates from the meeting.
On June 13, the AUA delegates spent the day in the general session where the House debated and voted on various measures relating to Public Health, AMA Governance and Finance, and Medical Practice. Here are some of the reports and resolutions of interest:
- Board of Trustees Report 15 – Addressing Public Health Disinformation
- The House approved this report, which proposed a broad strategy to address the public health crisis of health-related disinformation spread by health professionals. During floor debate there was considerable discussion around the proposed definition of “disinformation” included in the report, which specifically included the intent to cause harm.
- Resolution 606 – Financial Impact and Fiscal Transparency of the American Medical Association Current Procedural Terminology® System (Michigan)
- The House agreed to refer this particular measure for a decision at a later date. Res. 606 requests the AMA survey physicians about and study the impact of the 2021 CPT® Evaluation and Management (E&M) coding reform on physicians, among all specialties, in private and employed practices. In an effort to reduce physician administrative burden and modernize billing, E&M codes were sustainably changed in 2021 as part of the 2020 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule. The AUA supported the original measure to study the impact of the changes to ensure the intended effect was achieved.
- Resolution 702 – Health System Consolidation (Private Practice Physician Section)
- The House amended and passed this measure, which requires the AMA to study nationwide health system and hospital consolidation and regularly review and report back on these issues to keep the House of Delegates apprised on relevant changes that may impact the practice of medicine.
- Resolution 723 – Physician Burnout (American Medical Women’s Association)
- This resolution, which passed the House, urges AMA to work with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, The Joint Committee, and other accrediting bodies to add an institutional focus on physician wellbeing as an accreditation standard for hospitals. AUA was supportive due to ongoing concerns with the level of physician burnout amongst urologists and urologic professionals. As a result, the organization continues to advocate on issues such as reducing the regulatory burdens and addressing workforce shortages.
- Resolution 731 – Prior Authorization/Patient Autonomy (Private Practice Physician Section)
- This measure asks the AMA to advocate that patients and physicians should be given access to an electronic prior authorization system by their health plans with the ability to monitor the electronic prior authorization process in any model legislation and as a basis for advocacy for prior authorization. Res. 723 ultimately passed the House of Delegates.
Tomorrow, the House plans to consider reports and resolutions from Reference Committee A (Medical Service), Reference Committee B (Legislation), Reference Committee C (Medical Education), Reference Committee E (Science & Technology) and Reference Committee on Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws.