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[strange love]

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are there any up and coming national organizations that DO represent physician interests as a whole? it does seem that the AMA is quickly becoming obsolete, but what is the alternative? i am a non-trad finishing MS 1 and am extremely ignorant on this issue. i would think that specialty organizations would be too narrow in their focus to improve the situations for doctors as a general group. any info would be appreciated.

 

[themule]

are there any up and coming national organizations that DO represent physician interests as a whole? it does seem that the AMA is quickly becoming obsolete, but what is the alternative? i am a non-trad finishing MS 1 and am extremely ignorant on this issue. i would think that specialty organizations would be too narrow in their focus to improve the situations for doctors as a general group. any info would be appreciated.

http://docs4patientcare.org/

As for Gabby I would say yippee for you I hope you have a wonderful time wallowing in the Student Section at the AMA, I hope you enjoy your 1 vote amidst a sea of unlike minded individuals. I too have been to AMA meetings as a voting delegate and found it to be utterly worthless and most impossible to change a ship the size of the titanic with a row boat.

 

[CandidateofDerm]

I do not like the AMA, But I firmly believe that we need to join the AMA. When you join you should actually talk the AMA though.

I think the problem we are experiencing is that we are expecting the AMA to be mind readers. If you never spoke to the AMA directly about what you believe about what should be done, then you can harbor no ill will against it.

What needs to happen is we need the business minded physicians to become involved and let their voices be heard. The problem is that the AMA is torn because there are both democrats and republicans in medicine. Currently, the AMA is being run by more liberal leaning leadership. The people that get involved are the people that like to "get involved" (you know who I'm talking about) or the more academic types who actually have time outside their busy private practice to make it to meetings. On the other hand, the physician that is running his own private practice does not feel he can afford to take the time off or the time of day to be leadership at the AMA.

The best way to change the AMA from being the type of organization that supports a health reform bill before the bill is even created is to change it from within.

For example, I have recently been talking to the AMA with my membership. There are two things I would like to see:

1. Curtailing of the DNP threat to patients' and physicians' futures
2. Instead of pushing for SGR fix, push instead to allow balance billing with which would make an SGR fix obsolete and not put us into some system that really screws us.

 

[justdoit31]

Hey, if you don't want to join or don't have interest in making things better, that's all you. But don't expect not to be called on it when you complain. I think of it the same way I do elections -- you didn't vote? Don't bitch. Simple as that.

I just want to say that some of us decided not to be part of the AMA but do participate in other organizations- like the TMA which do fight for what we believe (I know numerous physicians who made this same decision).

I also write letters to my congressmen and have actively campaigned for several campaigns in the past few years. Just because we decided not to go through one specific organization doesn't mean we don't stand up for our beliefs.

So in the case of the elections- I did vote so I can bitch if I want to. I just prefer to only give my money to organizations that support my personal beliefs instead of adding myself to the number of doctors AMA says they are "representing"

 

[jzrull]

I think it's important to consider both the present and the past stances of professional organizations before joining them. Hans Baer offers a pretty objective history of Biomedicine, Osteopathic medicine, the AMA, and how the three have interacted over the last century. Check out Biomedicine and Alternative Healing Systems by him if you're interested.

Join your city council, not the AMA.

 

[hurdlepup]

Here here! 👍👍 See ya in Chicago ;-)

Chicago here we come! Plus, writing resolutions for San Diego. (Its Spanish for "A Whale's Vagina.")

I, for one, plan to be loud.

 

[smq123]

I'm personally not interested in joining the AMA the same that I'm not interested if being an active member of a mexican healthcare union when the time comes that I am even eligible to join one.

Most union member physicians abuse their union rights, never go to work and dump their work on other people like myself to fix for them while they get paid extra for their laziness. I wish to not be mistaken for those lazy baboons which is what I automatically associate any senior member to be.

The AMA is nowhere near analogous to a union. At the current time, physicians have not unionized, and I don't think I see that happening in the near future.

Can non-US physicians even join the AMA? 😕

 

[Random Anesthesiologist]

Hey, if you don't want to join or don't have interest in making things better, that's all you. But don't expect not to be called on it when you complain. I think of it the same way I do elections -- you didn't vote? Don't bitch. Simple as that.

You are missing the concept that choosing NOT to be involved with something is also a way to voice your opinion.

There is nothing wrong with discussing why one did not get involved with an organization. Some have even said they went the route of their state organization (as I have) or may plan to go the route of their specialty organizations or an alternative organization like the American Academy of Physicians and Surgeons.

Do not be so conceited as to think you have all the answers.

 

[Maalik Ashtaar]

So dead on. and in terms of premeds wanting to work for less money as doctors and save the planet with their work, yeah I think most of them talk out of their rear ends and have no real desire but like to pretend so. I've read enough PSes and talked to enough people about their REAL reasons for going to med school to realize this. hahaha

I may be wrong but I think that as you progress through med school and the bills pile up plus your growing disdain for patients and humanity in generally will make you lose whatever altruistic visions you once had.
I just finished first year so I don't know a lot but it seems like a LOT of my classmates really are interested in being altruistic and making the world a better place and all that.
My fiance's actually about that sort of thing as well.

As for me I still have some delusions of going back to where I'm from and fighting the good fight........... but as I progress I feel that drive decreasing.....

As far as AMA is concerned I guess I'm on the far side because my fiance is in AMSA and so I thought the AMA was conservative but from this forum it seems like you people think that AMA is too altruistic! Wow makes me wonder what you think of the AMSA peeps!

 

[MilkmanAl]

Wow makes me wonder what you think of the AMSA peeps!

Considering I watched them bicker for 2 hours over the wording of a resolution that the AMA rep told them at the outset would be voted down instantly because a better version had already been in place for years, not much. Like I said, it's an ego stroke for a lot of people who have to be right constantly.

 

[MossPoh]

Nope and people act shocked when I tell them. We need something better and with teeth, but that won't happen and we'll be bent over like usual.

 

[metallica81788]

A med student told me that you get a free book or something when you join the AMA and the dues were cheaper than the book. Truth? If so, worth it? 😕

 

[smq123]

A med student told me that you get a free book or something when you join the AMA and the dues were cheaper than the book. Truth? If so, worth it? 😕

If you join AMSA, they often give out a free copy of Netter's. I still didn't think it was worth it and did not join. In my opinion, the AMA/AMSA do not usually speak for the interests of most physicians, and I will give them none of my money until they try to do so.

 

[tkyle56]

I believe the AMA is becoming more of a patient advocate group than a physician advocate group. I guess the old raging liberals from the 60s and 70s, who are now running the AMA and the country, just want to redistribute the wealth of those evil doctors to those poor people that just didn't have the opportunity to become a physician or other high paying profession.

I don't mind the AMA advocating for patient's rights but there are many patient advocate groups that could care less about how well their physician is reimbursed for saving their lives, they simply want to pay as little as possible for their health care. The AMA and the AOA are both the largest organizations, and most established organizations, that represent physicians and I believe that means they should put the interest of physicians first to counter balance the other organizations that could care less about things like physician reimbursement.

At least the MDs don't have to join the AMA. If you are a DO you can not become board certified unless you are a member of the AOA because they are the ones who certify DO physicians. So DOs have a choice to join the AMA but we have to at least pay the minimum annual dues to the AOA. To the AOA's credit they do claim that they take whatever position the majority of AOA state chapters support. I start this fall so I don't know how truthful that is but based on that it seems like I can at least have my voice heard if I participate in my state chapter. After that, if the majority support something like health care reform then I really can't complain about the AOA supporting it.

The one positive of AOA membership basically being mandatory is that it would be very easy to poll all DO physicians and quickly see where every DO in the country stands on any issue. I would support the AOA either mailing or e-mailing short polls to their members to determine what stance they should take on an issue. That seems like the most democratic way to determine policy.

 

[Ravendown]

I don't think you do understand the situation based on this post. I didn't join the AMA and run to be a delegate because I agreed with their position. I did it because I DISagreed. Do I agree with their goals? Well, considering their goals involve advocating for physicians, yeah, that's a fair assessment. How they go about it, I don't agree with, which is why I'm putting myself out there to make my voice heard.



Nope, I never once told people they weren't allowed to complain. I just said that they'll be called on it. All this whining about how the AMA doesn't look out for their best interest, wah, wah, wah, is immature, frankly, and I'll continue to say so.



Read above.

Take a deep breath and relax. Medstudents don't need other reasons to build up more stress. It'd be nice if the AMA didn't have any straight up influences from the politics of the day, and basically just focused on the best possible outcomes for physicians as a whole. There's a lot of lit. on the AMA and i'm still reading, but this is just my prelim. opinion. For once, i'd like to join an org. that had no outside influences...for once. Of course the prob. of that is very low since all large org. will be influenced by those in power eventually...

 

[Tisiphone]

These kind of posts are my favorite on SDN, getting everyone all fired up about issues they feel strongly about. It's always entertaining to watch the discussion go back and forth like a tennis match.

I'm just a lowly pre-med so I haven't had the same mind-changing experiences everyone else seems to go through as they matriculate and become physicians. I would have said I wanted to join the AMA before encountering this, but now I think the jury's out. However, since it seems to be a recurring theme here, I have to wonder what proportions of your opinions about organizations like this are based on your political mindset (conservative, liberal, etc.), wanting to ensure a certain lifestyle for yourself as a physician or just wanting to be compensated (read: vindicated) for putting up with so much garbage from the entire process?

 

[7starmantis]

I have to wonder what proportions of your opinions about organizations like this are based on your political mindset (conservative, liberal, etc.), wanting to ensure a certain lifestyle for yourself as a physician or just wanting to be compensated (read: vindicated) for putting up with so much garbage from the entire process?

I wonder what other reasons (honorable of course) there are for making an opinion about an organization. 😛