Highlights from the June 2021 AMA Special Meeting

Track the news and other key moments from the AMA House of Delegates’ virtual meeting. The June 2021 AMA Special Meeting runs June 11–16.

Sunday, June 13

Reference committees continue work today

The following reference committees will meet from 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT:

Reference Committee on Amendments to Constitution & Bylaws, which covers the AMA constitution, bylaws and medical ethics matters.
Reference Committee C, which covers medical education.

Honoring our fallen physician heroes

Hundreds of American physicians have died of COVID-19 during the pandemic.

“The loss is hard to bear,” AMA Immediate Past President Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, says in an AMA video played during Friday night’s opening session. “It overwhelms. It undermines. It breaks. It takes.”

“We honor their lives,” says AMA President-elect Gerald E. Harmon, MD. “We carry on their legacy.”

Please watch and share this moving video tribute to the physician heroes we’ve lost to COVID-19.

96% of U.S. doctors are vaccinated. Time to follow their lead.

More than 96% of practicing physicians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to an AMA national survey conducted this month. The survey, whose results were released on the opening day of the June 2021 AMA Special Meeting, found no significant regional differences in vaccination rates. Of physicians not yet fully vaccinated, 45% said they did plan to get vaccinated.

“Practicing physicians across the country are leading by example, with an amazing uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines,” said AMA President Susan R. Bailey, MD.

The AMA has developed a COVID-19 vaccines guide for physicians to promote factual vaccine information online that includes sample social media posts and messages.

Discover AMA advocacy—during COVID-19 and beyond

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMA has been the leading physician and patient ally—voicing recommendations to key congressional leaders and agency staff, state policymakers and private sector stakeholders.

Acting on both federal and state levels, examples of AMA’s recent efforts include actions in financial relief, telehealth, testing and vaccine development, health equity and more.

Check out this updated dashboard to find out more about the AMA’s recent and ongoing COVID-19 advocacy efforts.

Also see this resource that tracks AMA’s 2020–20201 advocacy efforts across a range of issues, including Medicare physician payment, scope of practice, surprise billing, medical liability reform and more.

And make sure to watch the “AMA COVID-19 Update,” a series of YouTube episodes that shows how the AMA is supporting America’s physicians and medical students as safe and effective vaccines in the U.S. prevent illnesses and deaths.

Saturday, June 12

Reference committees start today

AMA delegates will offer testimony today and tomorrow on more than 100 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 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. CDT today:

Reference Committee A, which covers medical service.
Reference Committee D, which covers public health.
Reference Committee E, which covers science and technology.
Reference Committee F, which covers AMA governance and finance.

From 1–4:30 p.m., reference committees D and E will continue their discussions. These other reference committees also will meet:

Reference Committee B, which covers legislation.
Reference Committee G, which covers medical practice.

Watch this short video, from 2019, to learn more about how AMA policy is made.

Watch these education sessions on demand

Several of the June 2021 AMA Section Meetings’ education sessions were recorded ahead of time and you can watch them at your convenience. Among them:

Updates from AMA groups and sections

AMA member groups and sections representing medical students, residents and fellows, and many others across career stages, special interests and more held the June 2021 AMA Section Meetings last week.

These meetings of the AMA sections offer physicians and medical students the opportunity to influence policy, attend educational programs and network.

Discover what each group or section has learned and accomplished at their virtual meetings:

Friday, June 11

Jack Resneck Jr., MD, wins office of AMA president-elect

The AMA House of Delegates has elected Jack Resneck Jr., MD, a dermatologist from the San Francisco Bay Area, as the Association’s president-elect. Following a year-long term as president-elect, Dr. Resneck will assume the office of AMA president in June 2022.

Dr. Resneck is a member of the AMA Board of Trustees and frequent spokesman on issues related to public health, having testified in in congressional hearings on the topics of telemedicine, digital health, rising prescription drug prices, prior authorization, and other challenges facing the U.S. health care system.

“It is truly an honor to be elected by my peers to lead the AMA, especially during this pivotal time of learning from the COVID-19 pandemic experience as we plan for the future of medicine and public health,” Dr. Resneck said.

“Now more than ever, I am proud to be part of an AMA that is dedicated to driving the future of medicine, removing obstacles to patient care, and leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises—all while prioritizing our goal of eliminating longstanding health inequities,” he added.

Learn more about Dr. Resneck and the other physicians elected to AMA leadership positions tonight.

AMA president: Salute medicine’s heroes, prepare for hard work ahead

In assuming the AMA’s highest post a year ago, Susan R. Bailey, MD, spoke of a hero’s journey. As she concluded her journey as the Association’s president in a virtual address to delegates tonight, she remained awestruck at the way physicians rose to the challenge in an incredibly trying year for public health.

“No one has shouldered more in this pandemic than our courageous colleagues on the front lines—brave men and women from every state who have gone above and beyond in service to their patients and communities,” she said. “You will remain in our hearts and in our thoughts long after this pandemic is over.”

Read more about the opportunity Dr. Bailey sees to build on this watershed moment in medical history.

Dr. Madara: AMA’s trusted voice marshaled to advance health equity

Even in the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians were a source of light. Highlighting the extraordinary work that took place over the past year, AMA Executive Vice President and CEO James L. Madara, MD, spoke of the role “a more nimble, focused” AMA played in supporting physicians during a once-in-a-generation public health crisis and how that response can be channeled to advance health equity.

“Time and again, through hardship and setbacks, through surges and lockdowns, against a rising tide of anti-science rhetoric and political grandstanding, physicians rose to the extraordinary challenge of COVID-19,” Dr. Madara said in a virtual address to delegates tonight. “Physicians stood tall. And the AMA stood with them.”

Read more from Dr. Madara about how the AMA has established itself as a powerful voice amid the pandemic.

Transforming health care for post-pandemic world

During the June 2021 AMA Sections Meetings’ plenary session, Shantanu Nundy, MD, author of Care After COVID: What the Pandemic Revealed Is Broken in Healthcare and How to Reinvent It, explored what health care advocacy, equity, innovation and outcomes will look like after COVID-19.

Dr. Nundy’s remarks were followed by a panel discussion that drew insights from some of the AMA’s top executives:

Todd Askew, senior vice president of advocacy.
Meg Barron, vice president of digital health innovations.
Karen Kmetik, PhD, group vice president of health outcomes.
Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, chief health equity officer.

Dr. Nundy also discussed his ideas during an April episode of the “AMA COVID-19 Update,” which you can watch below.

Learn more about the session, which covered the five ways health care must change for a post-pandemic world.

June 2021 AMA Special Meeting is underway

Learn about what you should expect as nearly 700 physicians, residents and medical students gather virtually, June 11–16. They are meeting virtually to consider proposals addressing a wide range of clinical practice, payment, medical education and public health topics.

Among the notable issues:

Restricting chemical restraints in agitated individuals outside a hospital setting.
Changing medicine to prevent and address racism, discrimination and bias.
Enhancing medical education pathways to increase diversity in medicine.
Addressing equity in telehealth.
Opposing the criminalization and restriction of evidence-based gender-affirming care.
Revising the definition of “harm” used by federal privacy regulators to prevent unintended consequences.
Supporting strong privacy and equity protections under vaccine mandates and vaccine credentials.
Ensuring adequate health care resources to address the long-COVID crisis.
Promoting international sharing of COVID-19 resources.
Addressing increases in youth suicide.

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 June 2021 AMA Special 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.

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