AMA acts on E/M codes, collective negotiation
The AMA House of Delegates took action on many issues June 14-18 in Chicago. Some areas the AMA house addressed:
Delegates discussed their objections to Medicare guidelines for coding evaluation and management services. Past AAFP President Douglas Henley, M.D., of Fayetteville, N.C., said some quantitative formulas were necessary: "We need objective criteria to determine what level of service we code for our E/M visit." Henley was one of AAFP's eight delegates and a member of the AMA Current Procedural Terminology Editorial Panel.
When delegates considered opposing any documentation system that relied on quantitative formulas, Henley suggested a compromise opposing any system that relied solely on quantitative formulas. Delegates quashed his idea and voted against any quantification of medical care.
Incoming AMA President Nancy Dickey, M.D., said, "Our experience with the Health Care Financing Administra-tion tells us that the likelihood is, there's going to be some form of quantification."
Delegates labeled obesity a major public health problem and called for reimbursement for evaluating and managing it.
The house asked the AMA to form a negotiating unit by December. It would allow physicians to negotiate collectively without antitrust constraints and without joining national trade unions.
During the meeting, the Chicago Bulls became national basketball champions, and the Bulls chairman was televised passing out victory cigars to players. In protest, delegates asked the TV industry not to show athletes using cigars or other tobacco products and asked players to join anti-tobacco campaigns.
Delegates passed a report on the Sunbeam fiasco, in which the AMA last year lent its name and logo to Sunbeam home health products and, after a firestorm of protest, broke the contract. Saying staff had not alerted the board to the arrangement, the report recommended steps to heighten communication and the board's fiscal responsibility.
Delegates changed the AMA policy on hospitalists to include the patient's consent, as well as the consent of the patient's physician, before the patient would come under a hospitalist's care.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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