Ten years ago I authored a resolution at the AMA House of Delegates recommending that the association eliminate all dues and automatically make every licensed US physician a member. This was to be accomplished by downsizing most of the AMA’s noncore programs and learning to operate solely on nondues income””which represented over 50 percent of its total income at the time. The resolution went down in flames. It was strongly opposed by AMA leadership that claimed the membership downturn was being staunched and paying memberships would soon be on an upswing. Nothing could have been further from the truth, as over the years the AMA has seen a continuing decline in paying members.
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My membership lapsed mostly by accident. But $450 is a goodly chunk of change and I havn’t missed any of the so called benefits of membership. It took almost three months for me to realize that I was no longer getting my weekly JAMA; not much was really of interest to me on a day to day clinical basis apparently.
The AMA has lost its way and lost its membership.
jama is garbage…do not contribute or participate in the ama. They are a useless spineless bunch of bureaucrats. They have done nothing for physicians and never will…save your money for atlantic city and retirement…
“I havn’t missed any of the so called benefits of membership.”
“…do not contribute or participate in the ama.”
And doctors wonder why legislators, bureaucrats, trial lawyers, HMO’s and everybody else on the planet walks all over them? How about this for a SIMPLE answer – why shouldn’t they?
Doctors don’t present a united front on any issue, and fragmented political and legislative advocacy limits – SEVERELY – the amount of “clout” that physicians will have in the future.
They only hear you if you speak with a LOUD voice…the AMA used to speak with a louder voice, and still speaks with authority, not only for the physicians who financially support its work but for those who just sit back and reap the benefits of its effective lobbying, but it would be SO MUCH MORE powerful if so many people weren’t too cheap or timid to participate.
Don’t like the way an organization is run? Then get involved and take it over. THAT’s how organizations evolve…
And while you’re at it, thank the AMA for stopping the Medicare payment reductions that were written into the budget for the past three years…
“And while you’re at it, thank the AMA for stopping the Medicare payment reductions that were written into the budget for the past three years…”
The only reason they were able to “stop” it is because they, in turn, sold US physicians down the proverbial river by spinelessly capitulating to pay for performance.
“Pay for performance” was coming whether the AMA participated or not – don’t you thing it’s better to have someone participating on behalf of the doctors than to merely have pronouncements and procedures handed down by the government that will affect all physicians?
Perhaps it would have been better if the reps from the AMA had stormed out of negotiations and left the bureaucrats alone to do their worst? THEN America’s doctors could have ended up with pay for performance AND a 4.6% reduction in Medicare reimbursements….of course, if the reps from the AMA could have threatened retaliation from ALL of America’s doctors, it would have given them more clout….
If you don’t belong or participate, you’ve got no reason to complain, especially when most legislators and those whose decisions affect how you practice medicine DO consider the AMA to represent ALL doctors, even though it doesn’t anymore. They might know that only 30% of American doctors are members, but since there’s no OTHER organization that represents 30% of all doctors, the AMA is still the “default setting” for physician representation in legislative and regulatory issues…
Like I said before – if you don’t like how they do things in Chicago or Washington, join, get involved at your county and state level, and CHANGE IT. It’s amazingly easy to rise to a position of leadership in an organization populated by people who don’t have time to go to the bathroom, much less go to a meeting….
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