Track the news and other key moments from the AMA House of Delegates’ first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 AMA Annual Meeting runs June 10–15.
Saturday, June 11
Saturday, June 11
Reference committees start today
AMA delegates will offer testimony today and tomorrow on the hundreds of reports and resolutions up for consideration at the meeting. Delegates draw on their expertise, the best evidence in the medical and health policy literature, and the insights of their state medical associations and national medical specialty societies to weigh in on proposals that run the gamut of issues affecting patients and physicians.
These reference committees will meet from 1–5:30 p.m. CDT today:
- Reference Committee on Amendments to Constitution & Bylaws, which covers the AMA constitution, bylaws and medical ethics matters. Crystal Ballroom B–C.
- Reference Committee B, which covers legislation. Regency Ballroom A–B.
- Reference Committee C, which covers medical education. Regency Ballroom C–D.
- Reference Committee D, which covers public health. Riverside East.
- Reference Committee F, which covers AMA governance and finance. Grand Ballroom.
- Reference Committee G, which covers medical practice. Grand Hall I–J.
Watch this short video below, from 2019, and explore this AMA Ed Hub™ interactive course to learn how AMA policy is made.
It’s time to rebuild. And the AMA is ready.
In his speech last night, AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, MD, detailed the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians, an ambitious road map to renewing our country’s commitment to physicians—and ensuring their needs are met—so that patients can receive the high-quality care they deserve.
To learn more, watch this video about the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians, which was shown at last night’s opening session of the Annual Meeting.
Envisioned and built against the backdrop of COVID-19 challenges that stretched our health care system to the brink, including increased physician burnout, unabated and onerous prior-authorization requirements, and no permanent fix to ensure telehealth coverage for patients, the Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians focuses on five key goals to rebuild health care so that it works better for physicians and all those they serve:
As AMA marks 175th year, former president reflects on last 50
When Alan Nelson, MD, walked into his first House of Delegates meeting in 1972, the air was blue with tobacco smoke. “There was an ashtray at every seat,” he recalled. That year also marked one of the key dates in the AMA’s 175-year history, as that’s when a landmark U.S. surgeon general’s report was issued and the AMA would launch its all-out “war on smoking.”
And by the time Dr. Nelson became the organization’s president in 1989, the AMA had called for a ban on smoking aboard airplanes and many other measures to discourage the deadly addiction. The AMA has in recent years highlighted the public health epidemic of e-cigarettes and vaping and supported the ban on menthol flavoring in cigarettes.
The AMA’s war on smoking marks one of the critical turning points in AMA history, said Dr. Nelson, a retired private practice internist-endocrinologist who turns 89 this month. He provides a valuable perspective given that his tenure as AMA president in 1989–1990 dates back further than that of any other AMA president who is still living.
As the AMA celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, Dr. Nelson reflected on the many ways that American health care has changed, and how the AMA has risen to meet the moment in medicine.
Learn more in this thought-provoking Q&A with Dr. Nelson.
Watch these education sessions on demand
Several of the 2022 AMA Annual Meeting’s education sessions were recorded ahead of time and you can watch them at your convenience. Among them:
Friday, June 10
Friday, June 10
Dr. Madara: AMA is pursuing work worthy of its 175-year legacy
Medicine and society have changed during the 175 years of the AMA’s existence, but the Association’s role as the vanguard of creating a healthier nation has remained constant, according to AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD.
“Those advancements have greatly changed how we diagnose, treat and care for our patients,” he added. “But it’s that last element—caring—that maybe has changed the least. For health care remains intimate and personal. The need for a physician’s caring relationship with her patients is timeless.”
Learn more from Dr. Madara about how the AMA lived up to its mission during COVID-19 and has plans to do so for decades to come.
Dr. Harmon: U.S. must renew commitment to physicians
Since the last time the AMA House of Delegates gathered in person in 2019, there have been stimulus checks, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, along with several other COVID-19 related relief efforts sent from Washington.
Now the AMA has developed its own plan to help physicians and their practices recover from the hardships of the pandemic.
“It’s physicians who are rising to this moment—day after day,” AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, MD, said in his address at the opening session of the Annual Meeting.
“It’s physicians our nation turns to—for answers, for treatment, for help,” said Dr. Harmon, a family physician in South Carolina. “You’ve taken care of our nation—at great personal sacrifice—and it’s time our nation renews its commitment to you.”
Read from Dr. Harmon about the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians.
Quick links for the meeting
Quick links for the meeting
These essentials will help you get the most out of the meeting.
Follow the meeting on social media
Highlights of the meeting’s key moments and House of Delegates policy actions will be posted daily at the AMA website, the 2022 AMA Annual Meeting website, and the AMA’s Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter account using #AMAmtg.
Addresses from leadership and more will be featured on the AMA’s YouTube channel. After the meeting, be sure to follow the AMA on LinkedIn for additional updates as well.
8 issues to watch at 2022 AMA Annual Meeting
Hundreds of physicians and medical students have gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chicago for the 2022 AMA Annual Meeting to consider proposals across a wide range of clinical practice, payment, medical education and public health topics. The meeting opens today and runs through Wednesday, June 15.
Among the notable issues that will be addressed are these eight:
- Addressing public health disinformation by health professionals.
- Regulating ghost guns.
- Declaring climate change a public health crisis.
- Banning cannabidiol ads in places that children frequent.
- Preventing loss of insurance coverage after the COVID -19 public health emergency ends.
- Urging the Food and Drug Administration to swiftly review and approve over-the-counter status for oral contraceptives.
- Decreasing bias in evaluations of medical student performance.
- Ensuring accessibility of quality child care for physicians in training.