AMA reveals recovery plan for physicians

Amy Baxter | June 10, 2022 | Health Exec | Management

The American Medical Association (AMA) has unveiled the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians.

The plan is “an ambitious roadmap” from the AMA and its commitment to physicians, the association said. The AMA noted that physicians have been on the brink since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but their challenges in the healthcare industry have grown over the past few years, predating the pandemic. Among these challenges are increased physician burnout, unabated and onerous prior authorization requirements and no permanent fix to ensure telehealth coverage for patients.

In a promotional video for the plan, AMA noted that “after two years of taking care of this nation,” the association and the country owe their commitment to doctors. The plan includes five key areas:

Supporting telehealth to maintain coverage and payment;
Reforming Medicare payment to promote thriving physician practices and innovation;
Stopping scope creep that threatens patient safety;
Fixing prior authorization to reduce the burden on practices and minimize care delays for patients; and
Reducing physician burnout and address the stigma around mental health.

“America’s doctors are a precious, and irreplaceable, resource,” AMA President Gerald E. Harmon, MD, said in a statement. “Physician shortages, already projected to be severe before COVID, have almost become a public health emergency. If we aren’t successful with this Recovery Plan, it’ll be even more challenging to bring talented young people into medicine and fill that expected shortage.”

As COVID-19 moves into the endemic stage, healthcare professionals are still faced with ensuring the health of the nation. Hospitals could become overwhelmed once again, and recognizing the men and women in the healthcare field is critical, according to the AMA.

“In the darkest days of this pandemic—amidst fear, confusion, and systems pushed to the brink—it was up to physicians to hold it all together,” Harmon said in a speech to physicians and medical leaders.

Harmon noted that physicians need several changes from policymakers, including expansion of telehealth, reforming the Medicare payment system, stopping unsafe scope of practice expansions, fixing prior authorization and workforce improvements, including reducing physician burnout, retaining and retooling the workforce and addressing mental health stigma.

The AMA also noted it has worked on several of these issues already, including helping avoid a 10% Medicare payment cut thanks, in part, to its efforts. The association will next set its sights on prior authorization, which most physicians agree is burdensome and leads to delay in patient care.

In order to improve the workforce and reduce staffing shortages, AMA suggested limiting debt for medical students, expanding residency training slots and gain funding from Congress for new medical schools and residency programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities.

“Our Recovery Plan is ambitious,” Harmon said in a written statement. “But it is doable. And the AMA is here to be our unified voice to lawmakers and those in positions of power. The Recovery Plan is how we move forward. By prioritizing and meeting the needs of physicians, we also improve patient care. We’re all better off when doctors can focus on medicine.”

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