The American Medical Association’s House of Delegates voted to formally oppose use of the term “provider” when referring to physicians, adopting the new policy at its Annual Meeting in Chicago this week.
The vote builds on existing AMA policy that already calls on healthcare entities to specify the type of clinician — using their recognized title and credentials — when using the term “provider” in contracts, advertising and other communications. It also directed AMA to prohibit use of the term in its own publications.
The new policy goes further, directing the AMA to actively oppose the term when it encompasses physicians and to implement the existing policy’s external advocacy provisions, which had not yet been fully advanced.
The AMA argues that the term “provider” undermines patient education, transparency and physician professionalism, and poses risks to patient safety by obscuring the distinctions among clinician types and their training, according to a June 9 news release.
The organization will also refer the matter to its Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, which develops and maintains the organization’s Code of Medical Ethics. The move comes after a February policy paper from the American College of Physicians argued that referring to physicians as “providers” undermines their ethical obligations, clinical integrity, accountability and patient trust.
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