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Good Morning,
On Wednesday, we flew to Hawaii to attend the Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association. It took a day to recover from jet lag but on Friday I attended a meeting of the Organization of State Medical Association Presidents. In addition to the usual difficulties familiar to you all (access to care/physician shortages, professional liability, the need to replace the SGR, etc.) much time was spent on a resolution encouraging AMA action in support of balance billing. Concern regarding the consolidation of physicians into health care systems was also discussed. It was a treat to hear an impassioned plea from Dr. Ed Annis (now 94 and a half, and AMA President in 1962) to protect our independent role as our patient's advocate. We are working to make the video of his famous speech at Madison Square Garden available to you in the near future. Everything he predicted then has occurred. That evening the FMA AMA delegation met socially with Florida students representing every medical school in the state. On Saturday, the Florida AMA Delegation met to discuss the various resolutions and plan their responses. The First AMA House of Delegates convened. After its conclusion we stopped by a reception in honor of Dr. Ed Annis and we continued our discussion during the FMA Delegation dinner. The Second House of Delegates convened on Sunday followed by several reference Committees. That afternoon I attended a forum on "Health Reformation: States Take The Lead" along with Dr. David McKalip, Chair of the FMA Council on Medical Economics, Dr. Bob Lastomirsky, Chair of the Committee on Organized Medical Staffs and Dr. Paco Arrascue, President of the Palm Beach County Medical Society. We learned about the experiences in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Hawaii in dealing with the uninsured. Later that afternoon, the leadership of California, Texas, New York and Florida met to review issues of importance to these four large states. We have much in common and we'll be pursuing a number of issues common to all. On Monday the AMA House met to review recommendations from the Reference Committees and we will provide you a link soon to the decisions made. "Facing a steep reduction in payments, many physicians may wish to review their Medicare participation options. Physicians who wish to change their current Medicare participation or non-participation status for 2008 must do so between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31, 2007." To read the rest of this fact sheet from the American Medical Association, click here. An FMA member sent me an inquiry concerning the status of NICA assessments. The Florida OB/GYN Society recently completed an analysis of this program which you will find of interest. Did you know that 43% of the funds distributed from the NICA trust fund originate from care delivered in hospitals who do not contribute to NICA? To read further, click here. We are hearing reports that some hospitals are attempting to change the medical staff bylaws in order to marginalize the authority of physicians. An alert on this subject was recently sent to all FMA members as well as the Chiefs of all Florida hospital medical staffs. You can access this HERE. At the interim meeting of the American Medical Association, 12 "Principles For Strengthening the Physician Hospital Relationship" are under consideration. The FMA Committee on Organized Medical Staffs will be sending you this information soon after its completion and acceptance by the AMA House of Delegates. In the meantime, please keep us informed of any attempts to weaken your staff's ability to govern the delivery of health care in your hospital. Until next week... |
Be sure to visit the FMA Web site at www.fmaonline.org for the latest news updates.