“The upcoming rulemaking process is an opportunity, which may not be seen again for decades,” the letter stated. “Now is not the time to squander our influence in petty bickering.” HHS is expected to issue proposed rules for provisions in the law such as creating accountable care organizations by the end of the year.
The letter referred to the Florida Medical Association’s public expression of no confidence in AMA leadership for its support of healthcare reforms and its failed attempts to remove the permanent Medicare physician fee cut. During the summer, the Florida Medical Association actually considered exiting from the AMA, but instead it sent the AMA a stinging letter delivering a “strong message of dissatisfaction with the AMA leadership” and expressing “serious reservations about the AMA’s effectiveness and its ability to represent the physicians’ interests.”
The Maine letter stated: “A football team whose members brawl among themselves will not win. A country whose elections are followed by secession attempts will not survive. A divided medical community will not be relevant.”
Read the Hill report the AMA.
Read the Maine Medical Association’s letter to the AMA (pdf).
Read more coverage of the AMA:
– As AMA Embraced Health Reform, Membership Fell 3.5% in 2009
– Is the AMA the Worst Trade Association Ever?
– AMA Criticizes Senate Medicare Physician Payment Fix Proposal
