Understanding Health Care Equity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Prioritizing Equity video series explores how health care equity impacts care during the pandemic. In this episode, panelists share the importance of implementing culturally responsive communication models to address health inequities. It is crucial to teach healthcare providers how to interact with patients in a way that respects their cultural background and promotes trust. By doing so, we can begin to reduce health disparities and improve access to care for all.

AMA Advocacy Efforts for Improved Medical Liability Laws

Medical liability laws play a crucial role in shaping the current medical liability system. The AMA provides resources, including PDFs of state law charts, issue briefs, and new model legislation, to help physicians and patients navigate the complex system. By advocating for improved medical liability laws on the state level, the AMA reshapes the current system to meet the unique needs of physicians and patients.

Understanding CPT® New Proprietary Laboratory Analyses (PLA) Codes

The AMA provides insights into the new Proprietary Laboratory Analyses (PLA) codes added to the PLA section of the CPT Code. The section provides information on new tests and assays that can be used in medical practice. Healthcare providers can learn how to request the inclusion of new codes in the PLA section to ensure better diagnosis and treatment for patients.

International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in Healthcare Landscape

International Medical Graduates (IMGs) play a crucial role in our healthcare landscape, but they face a range of challenges, including legal and professional challenges. The AMA provides support to help IMGs navigate the complex system, providing insights into the latest changes in medical education, improving education and licensure, and facilitating the integration of IMGs into the U.S. healthcare system.

Precision Education Through AMA ChangeMedEd® Initiative

As a developing concept, precision education is one of four new focus areas for the AMA ChangeMedEd® initiative. The program provides students with personalized and technology-driven learning experiences to improve their engagement and understanding. By encouraging a more tailored approach to medical education, the program aims to produce doctors who are better equipped to meet the unique healthcare needs of diverse patient populations.

Resources for Medical Students and Residents

The AMA offers a wide range of resources to support medical students and residents’ professional development. Students can explore research opportunities, strengthen their leadership skills, and prepare for residency and beyond with AMA’s resources. These resources help budding physicians reach their full potential, from M1 to match.

Employment Contracts for U.S. Physicians

More U.S. physicians are becoming employed, making it essential to get their employment contracts right. The AMA provides insights into eight key legal do’s and don’ts to help physicians navigate the contract. Understanding these essentials can protect physicians’ interests, ensuring they receive the compensation, benefits, and working conditions they deserve.

American Medical Association (AMA) Advocacy Efforts

The AMA is a leading advocate for physicians and patients on various healthcare topics affecting their lives. The AMA Update covers the organization’s latest advocacy efforts. From fighting for greater insurer accountability and transparency against onerous prior authorization requirements to addressing the need for greater oversight of health insurers’ use of prior authorization controls on patient access to care, the AMA is at the forefront of healthcare advocacy.

International Conference on Physician Health

The 2024 International Conference on Physician Health is scheduled to be held from Oct. 17 to Oct. 19, 2024. The event provides a platform for physicians and other healthcare professionals to learn and share experiences, strategies, and tools that promote physician health and well-being. It is an excellent opportunity for professionals to build networks, gain insights, and grow their understanding of contemporary issues in physician health.

Boot Camp for Clinical and Operational Change Agents

The two-day boot camp scheduled from September 23-24, 2024, is designed for clinical and operational change agents looking to eliminate unnecessary work and free up more time to focus on what matters most – patient care. The event brings together experts to share their knowledge, best practices, and tools to help attendees ramp up their efficiency, streamline their processes, and promote better outcomes for patients.

AMA House of Delegates

The AMA House of Delegates is the policy-making body for American medicine, bringing together physicians, residents, and medical students from every state and medical specialty. The delegates create a national physician consensus on emerging issues, guiding AMA actions as the organization fights for physicians against mounting challenges that interfere with patient care. The delegates recently approved policies aimed at improving insurer accountability and transparency on prior authorization policies that delay and deny necessary care to patients.

Prior Authorization Policies and Legal Accountability of Health Insurers

The AMA is advocating for increased legal accountability of health insurers that harm patients by imposing obstacles and burdens that interfere with medically necessary care. Survey results consistently find that excessive authorization controls required by health insurers persistently lead to serious harm to patients when necessary medical care is delayed, denied, or disrupted. Investigations by the inspector general’s office of the HHS Department and Kaiser Family Foundation into prior authorization by Medicare Advantage plans strongly suggest that insurers are denying medically necessary health care. The AMA is working to ensure that increased legal accountability of insurers is not precluded by clauses in beneficiary contracts that may require pre-dispute arbitration for prior authorization determinations or place limitations on class action.

Improved Transparency in Prior Authorization Notifications

Prior authorization programs imposed by health insurers include extensive denial processes that are notoriously opaque, complex, and inconsistent. The AMA has been working to ensure health insurers provide prior authorization notifications with detailed explanations regarding the rationale for denying access to care. The AMA’s new policy outlines basic information requirements for prior authorization denial letters that include a detailed explanation of denial reasoning, access to policies or rules cited as part of the denial, information needed to approve the treatment, and a list of covered alternative treatments. The AMA is also supporting real-time prescription benefit tools (RTBTs) that allow physicians access to patient drug coverage information at the point of care in their electronic health records.

The AMA – Physicians’ Powerful Ally in Patient Care

The AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care, leveraging its strength to improve patient care. By removing obstacles that interfere with patient care, confronting public health crises, and driving the future of medicine, the AMA aims to tackle the biggest challenges in health care. With a membership base of 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA leads the charge to prevent chronic diseases and improve healthcare outcomes.

Originally Post From https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-adopts-new-prior-authorization-reform-policies-during-annual

AMA Adopts New Prior Authorization Reform Policies During Annual Meeting