AMA Members Connect at Local Roundtables

Physicians and medical students from Massachusetts met with AMA leaders and staff members during three recent AMA “Member Connect Roundtables” in Boston and Worcester.

The informal, open-agenda roundtables allow attendees to ask questions and voice opinions about matters affecting them and their practices. Participants included Duane Cady, M.D., chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, along with AMA Trustees Rebecca J. Patchin, M.D., of California, and our own Joseph Heyman, M.D., and Samantha Cramoy, M.D.

At one session, longtime MMS and AMA member Arnold Relman, M.D., who is also an editor emeritus of the New England Journal of Medicine, expressed concern that business interests have turned health care into an industry rather than “a profession with a soul.” He pointed specifically to health care education’s dependence on insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Patchin said she expects to see more disclosure from such companies about their profits and the percentage of revenue that actually goes toward health care. “We need to put that out there for the public and say, ‘Here are the numbers, here are the facts,’” she said.

A session with students and residents focused on how the AMA can improve its reputation among medical school program directors and attending physicians in teaching hospitals. “They tend to see the AMA as a stagnant organization that’s more reactive than proactive,” said Ross Goldberg, M.D., a surgical research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital.

To better connect with medical school faculty, the group suggested that the AMA perform market research with program directors and highlight the connection between the AMA and medical specialty societies.

The roundtables also revealed that the AMA is fighting a battle against misinformation. According to Mark Friedberg, M.D., an internal medicine resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, false rumors are circulating, including a preposterous one that the AMA supports the tobacco industry. “There’s a lot of mythology out there that a lot of people really believe,” he said.

Najmosana Nikrui, M.D., an OB-GYN from Weston, said organized medicine should do more to help physicians care for diverse populations, noting that cultural and language barriers can be significant obstacles. Dr. Patchin agreed, pointing to the AMA’s and AMA Foundation’s activities to improve health literacy and eliminate health care disparities. She noted that living in Southern California reminds her that patient communities continue to diversify and medicine needs to continue to adapt.