Day 2 Blog (Sunday, November 13)
AUA Delegates, Drs. Hans Arora and Richard Pelman, AUA Alternate Delegate Dr. Jason Jameson and AUA Resident/Fellow Section Delegate, Dr. Ruchika Talwar joined hundreds of physicians at the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HoD) 2022 Interim Meeting to consider resolutions and reports covering clinical practice, payment, medical education and public health topics. Top issues at the meeting include ongoing physician workforce shortages, healthcare disparities, telemedicine expansion, scope of practice and medical licensing.
On Sunday, the AUA delegation participated in multiple reference committee meetings covering more than 175 different reports and resolutions. In particular, they attended six reference committee hearings and weighed-in on numerous measures including in the Reference Committee on Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws, to which Dr. Arora testified in support of referring Resolution 012 Guidelines on Chaperones for Sensitive Exams for further consideration. “While I have no qualm with the ethical components of utilizing chaperones in practice, there are financial implications for this. So, for the small private practice, that may mean an additional employee whose utilization could be highly variable and unpredictable from patient to patient, from day to day,” he said. Opposing unwarranted statutory or regulatory requirements related to the genitourinary physical examination by licensed and qualified providers remains a top state advocacy priority for the AUA.
In the Reference Committee on Legislation, Dr. Arora also spoke in favor of several resolutions including Resolution 214 Universal Good Samaritan Statute asking AMA to help protect patients in need of emergency care and protect physicians and other responders by advocating for a national “universal” Good Samaritan Statute. The AUA routinely advocates for sound medical liability reforms, including promoting federal and state Good Samaritan bills to protect physicians from frivolous lawsuits during public health emergencies.
Dr. Talwar covered the Reference Committee on Medical Education and testified in support of Resolution 304 Protecting State Medical Licensing Boards from External Political Influence. “We must take a stance preventing licensing boards from being influenced by external pressures. They must solely serve the interests of patients and physicians who provide evidence-based care, regardless of political climate,” she said during the hearing.
Dr. Jameson participated in the Reference Committee on Public Health where he spoke in support of amending Resolution 916 Non-Cervical HPV Associated Cancer Prevention to include various “genital” cancers vs. “penile” cancers to be more inclusive of various urologic cancers when promoting HPV vaccinations.
Finally, in the Reference Committee on Medical Practice, Dr. Pelman testified on several measures including Resolution 817 Promoting Oral Anticancer Drug Parity. The AUA supports federal legislation to establish oral parity because it helps increase access in remote rural areas by allowing more self-administered treatments to be delivered to a person’s home, decreases the need for travel for the patient and caregiver, which exposes them to fewer potential diseases when immunocompromised, and allows provider recommended treatments to be provided.
The reference committees will now provide the full House of Delegates with recommendations on the measures discussed today. The House resumes business on Monday to begin reviewing and voting on relevant resolutions. The meeting concludes on November 15.
Read news from the day one here. Additional updates and final resolution outcomes will be posted to the Policy & Advocacy Brief blog.