Thanks to a strong response from Academy members, the AAFP has earned four additional delegates in the AMA House of Delegates. This brings AAFP's delegate total to five, the largest number of delegates of any specialty society in AMA's governing body.
Academy members returned about 9,500 ballots to the AMA to earn the extra delegates. Each society received one new delegate for every 2,000 ballots (see chart below).
"We're thrilled to see this kind of overwhelming response from our members," says AAFP President Patrick Harr, MD, of Maryville, MO. "These added delegates give us an important opportunity to strengthen the voice of family practice and primary care within the AMA."
Last year, the AMA restructured its house of delegates to make it more responsive to physicians and their patients by shifting to representation on a proportional basis. In the process, AMA members could choose which specialty society they wanted to represent them.
Officials from the AMA reported receiving almost 100,000 ballots in this election, meaning more than 35 percent of all AMA members returned ballots. AMA members, including residents and fourth-year medical students, will be asked to choose a specialty society to represent them each fall.
In the year 2000, each society will begin earning an extra AMA delegate for every 1,000 ballots returned. About 39 percent of AAFP's 49,262 active members belong to the AMA.
Results of Fall 1996 Balloting for AMA Delegates
| Specialty society | Additional delegates | Total delegates |
| American Academy of Family Physicians | 4 | 5 |
| American Academy of Pediatrics | 2 | 3 |
| American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists | 2 | 3 |
| American College of Physicians | 2 | 3 |
| American College of Radiology | 2 | 3 |
| American Society of Anesthesiologists | 2 | 3 |
| American College of Surgeons | 1 | 2 |
| American Society of Internal Medicine | 1 | 2 |
Note: Some other societies gained one delegate apiece.