The AMA Annual Meeting is underway at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago.  The meeting schedule today includes educational sessions on Scope of Practice sponsored by the AMA’s Advocacy Resource Center (ARC), by the Litigation Center of the AMA and the State Medical Societies, and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) sponsored by the Pennsylvania Medical Society.  This morning’s Scope of Practice session included presentations on APRN legislative debates in Ohio, California, and Arizona, as well as the VA APRN proposed rule having significant implications for anesthesiologists.

The Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) and the AMA’s efforts to influence CMS’ implementation of it and to prepare physicians for it are key policy issues before the AMA House of Delegates.  You can find the AMA’s MACRA resources on the web here:  http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/advocacy/topics/medicare-physician-payment-reform.page.  Recognizing a physician shortage in the country, another topic of debate at the meeting is increasing available residency slots.  Some of the other current issues on the agenda at this meeting are professional burnout among physicians, health information technology interoperability, and response to the national opioid abuse epidemic, including improvements to state Prescription Monitoring Programs (PMPs). 

The 2016 Annual Meeting began on Saturday, June 11^th and will conclude on Wednesday, June 15^th.  The inauguration of President-Elect Andrew W. Gurman, M.D. will take place on the evening of Tuesday, June 14^th.  You can find the meeting schedule and materials on the web here:  http://www.ama-assn.org/sub/meeting/index.html.