August 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 8 |
 AAFP President Warren Jones, M.D.: "The AAFP believes strongly that the future viability of the AMA resides in a successful transition to an organization of organizations." |
The 155-year-old American Medical Association might metamorphose into the core element of an "organization of organizations," possibly with few or no individual members of its own -- if a business plan yet to be developed passes muster with the AMA House of Delegates next year.
At its annual meeting here, the AMA house voted June 19 that the AMA could transform itself in that manner. A committee representing the AMA, state medical societies, national medical specialty societies and other AMA federation components will develop the business plan.
The plan will address financial implications for the AMA and member organizations, as well as which AMA activities should continue and which should be cut.
The AMA's membership numbers have been dropping for years -- the organization currently represents only about 28 percent of all doctors. In the late 1990s and in 2000, several groups within the AMA, including its Commission on Unity, wrestled with the problem.
Most recently, the AMA's Special Advisory Group Extraordinaire reported its recommendations for change to the AMA Board of Trustees this February. The AMA board circulated the SAGE report to other federation groups, including the Academy, for comment before taking a stand on the report's recommendations.
In March, the AAFP Board of Directors endorsed the SAGE report, offered some refinements and strongly urged the AMA board to endorse the report as well.
The SAGE called for substantial changes in the AMA structure -- the most radical of which was transition to an organization of organizations. But the AMA Board of Trustees rejected the concept, recommending instead that the voluntary individual membership model somehow be strengthened.
AAFP President Warren Jones, M.D., of Ridgeland, Miss., chided the AMA board in reference committee testimony, calling the recommendation "a reaffirmation of the status quo that is woefully inadequate."
"The AAFP believes strongly that the future viability of the AMA resides in a successful transition to an organization of organizations," he said.
After hearing extensive, diverse testimony, the reference committee went against the board and recommended the organization of organizations model. After hours of debate, the AMA house called for an "implementable" business plan first. "If the business plan is adopted by the AMA House of Delegates, the AMA will transition to an organization of organizations," the house declared.
The call for a business plan was prudent, said Daniel Ostergaard, M.D., AAFP vice president for international and interprofessional activities. "The SAGE report also called for other changes that would have reduced costs, such as elimination of the AMA house's interim meeting and a reduction in delegation sizes. Delegates didn't vote for those changes, so those expenses are still in place. All stakeholders need to know the additional costs of moving to an organization of organizations before making a decision."
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Copyright © 2002 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.