Texas Takes Its Expertise to AMA Interim Meeting
By Amy Lynn Sorrel

Physician representatives of the Texas Medical Association worked to ensure Texas maintains a strong voice in the American Medical Association, bringing firsthand experience to the development of several national policies at the Special Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates Nov. 12-16. 

Held virtually again, this year’s meeting focused on a limited list of business, with the Texas Delegation to the AMA active through online and live testimony alongside nearly 500 physician delegates from across the country who reviewed and debated more than 100 reports and resolutions. 

With good reason, the COVID-19 pandemic took center stage again as AMA President Gerald Harmon, MD, opened the meeting acknowledging the long slog physicians continue to endure. The family physician from South Carolina and former career officer in the U.S. Air Force and the Air National Guard likened it to “battle fatigue.” 

“Like combat, the unrelenting demands of responding to COVID patients has led to physical and emotional exhaustion and pushed physicians and our entire health care workforce to the breaking point,” he said. “We at the AMA … and all the state and specialty medical societies who comprise the House of Medicine … must be the allies our physician colleagues need right now. We are an army against the virus. We are an army against injustice. An army against unresponsive bureaucracy and distracted legislators.” 

As business got underway, the Texas Delegation brought a handful of successful resolutions to the house. They kicked off with a proposal that was based on TMA’s success with pre-submitted online testimony for its own virtual meetings and that AMA delegates ultimately adopted to improve the efficiency and inclusiveness of house business. During what is usually a scaled-back meeting held at the end of the year, delegates at the special meeting had to manage a higher volume of resolutions as a result of backlogs due to the pandemic and the nature of virtual meetings. 

“This resolution will make for greater efficiency in our face-to-face meetings and make [the AMA process] more like the TMA’s,” Texas Delegation Chair David Henkes, MD, a San Antonio pathologist, told Texas Medicine Today

The next AMA meeting in June 2022 is expected to be an in-person event. 

On the heels of TMA advocacy at home, Texas also took the lead with a pair of resolutions that garnered delegates’ attention in addressing the nearly 10% Medicare cuts to physician payments lurking around the corner. The house adopted Texas’ proposal to “promote sustainability in Medicare physician payments” by “continuing to advocate for [federal] legislation that prevents Medicare cuts from taking place prior to Jan. 1, 2022,” and to seek annual and accurate cost-of-business updates. 

The Texas Delegation also threw its strong support behind a Florida resolution that the AMA House adopted to work toward eliminating the “budget neutrality” requirements in federal law that mandate any payment increases be offset by cuts in other areas. 

Dr. Henkes called the policy “very important since [budget neutrality] results in ridiculous percentage reductions in physician fees based on factors beyond the physician’s control.” 

Meanwhile, following up on new far-reaching AMA policy passed in June to address diversity and health equity, the AMA Center for Health Equity (AMACHE) held a forum (AMA member login required) largely discussing its newly released controversial publication, Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts.  

“Although I believe the vast majority of physicians understand that social determinants have a big role in an individual’s health care, it is important to know that these reports were issued independently by the AMACHE and have not been debated nor accepted by the AMA House of Delegates,” Dr. Henkes told Texas Medicine Today.

As for Texas’ role, he added: “The TMA Board understands the importance and timeliness of this issue and has established a task force that will also examine the topic with a report that will come back to the TMA Board and House for comments.”   

On other measures the Texas delegation monitored, the house adopted policies to: 

  • Combat public health disinformation disseminated by health care professionals.
  • Ensure only licensed physicians should determine whether a person should receive a medical exemption from vaccines.
  • Bolster the U.S. public health infrastructure.
  • Improve maternal health disparities with a sweeping plan that includes support for 12 months of postpartum coverage in Medicaid.
  • Ensure a diverse range of skin tones are represented in dermatology medical education.
  • Ensure confidentiality for adolescents in telehealth.
  • Support development of a standardized real-time prescription benefit tool embedded in electronic health records.
  • Stop payers from wrongly charging electronic funds transfer fees

As delegates considered these and other policies, TMA physicians were active in several AMA leadership positions: 

  • Houston neurologist Eddie Patton Jr., MD, served on the Reference Committee on Public Health;
  • Frisco internist Bryan Johnson, MD, served on the Reference Committee on Legislation;
  • Austin orthopedic surgeon David Teuscher, MD, and Tyler obstetrician-gynecologist Yasser Zeid, MD, served on the Reference Committee on Science and Public Health;
  • San Antonio radiologist Zeke Silva, MD, and Baylor College of Medicine student Rajadhar Reddy served on the Reference Committee on Medical Service;
  • San Antonio wound care specialist Jayesh Shah, MD, served on the Committee on Rules and Credentials;
  • Tyler anesthesiologist Asa Lockhart, MD, chaired the Council on Medical Services; and
  • Fort Worth pediatrician Gary Floyd, MD, served on the on Council on Legislation. 

Looking ahead, Dr. Silva is a candidate for a seat on the Council on Medical Services in 2022, and Houston plastic surgeon Russell Kridel, MD, will run for AMA president for the 2023-24 term.

Last Updated On

November 24, 2021

Originally Published On

November 24, 2021

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Amy Lynn Sorrel

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Amy Sorrel

Amy Lynn Sorrel has covered health care policy for nearly 20 years. She got her start in Chicago after earning her master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and went on to cover health care as an award-winning writer for the American Medical Association, and as an associate editor and managing editor at TMA. Amy is also passionate about health in general as a cancer survivor, avid athlete, traveler, and cook. She grew up in California and now lives in Austin with her Aggie husband and daughter.

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