AMA President speaks out over disinformation in medicine
After nearly three years of battling the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and medical misinformation, physicians are facing unprecedented disinformation attacks and government interference in the practice of medicine, fanning flames of an already concerning physician burnout crisis. In remarks to physicians and medical students gathered at the Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates, AMA President Jack Resneck Jr., M.D., today outlined the challenges facing physicians and patients following the Dobbs decision, the threats stemming from disinformation on topics of health and medicine, and the consequences of years-long disinformation campaigns that threaten the patient-physician relationship.
In enumerating the threats and their downstream consequences, Dr. Resneck emphasized the need for the AMA’s Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians and, most urgently, the need for Congress to prevent looming end-of-year Medicare cuts that could cut payments to physician practices by nearly nine percent, when they are already struggling due to the pandemic and rising inflation that is impacting the cost of providing care.
“But simply blocking every planned cut, as we’ve done before, isn’t good enough,” Dr. Resneck said. “Physicians deserve financial stability, including automatic, positive, annual updates that account for rising practice costs. And it’s time for reform of unfair budget neutrality rules that penalize doctors for things beyond our control.”
Dr. Resneck also touted AMA efforts to advance the Recovery Plan, including work to address physician burnout, fix prior authorization and efforts to stop dozens of unsafe scope expansion proposals that jeopardize patient safety.
