Your Wellness Matters to the AMA
At the 2015 Interim Meeting this month, AMA leaders decided that making physical wellness was important. Good for them. AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD, “tried to get across to attendees, asserting that the constraints of modern medicine are preventing physicians from interacting with their patients in a meaningful, compassionate way.” Wait a minute, wasn’t the AMA the organization that has backed EVERY measure that has caused these constraints? Talk about a bunch of hypocrites. Here are some highlights from the rest of the article:
- “It actually makes me sick that I didn’t have time to be the physician I know I am, the partner that patient deserved in his time of need,” Stack said. “We simply cannot tolerate this … it is a theft of our time [and] our passion. Providing excellent care to patients is not negotiable.”
- Reducing that extraordinarily high level of dissatisfaction, frustration, and unacknowledged mental illness is at the core of the AMA’s multi-pronged efforts to chart a better course for healthcare. The unrelenting pace of the EHR Incentive Programs are not entirely to blame, but they certainly don’t help physicians get through their days any easier.
- Ultimately, the AMA and its members are seeking ways to restore “joy” to the practice of medicine. Through collaborative, cross-industry efforts, advocacy, outreach, and education, the AMA hopes to alleviate many of the pain points that have pushed providers to the brink of retirement – or worse.
Their plan is simple. Be part of the problem that creates the problem. Feign ignorance. Make empty promises to fix the problem. Beg for dues. Repeat.
How am I the only one to call out the AMA on this crap?
Oh, and you want to restore the joy to medical practice? I have the answer. Remove the government and the insurance companies. Ta da!! It’s called Direct Primary Care and I’m loving it.
The AMA has not seen a dime from me in > 5 years, and never will again.
I recommend medical cannabis for all physicians, or perhaps a new fentanyl analogue – AMAfentanyl, I’d call it. All the euphoria, but avoid the nasty apnea side-effect, please.
Every time you finish a billable chart, you can belly up to the computer for a snork of amafentanyl.
If the AMA’s just interested in ‘ways to restore “joy” to the practice of medicine,’ amafentanyl nasal inhaler, computer-controlled and perhaps with a whiff of methamphetamine (surely it’s off patent by now) will stimulate the joy centers of the brain. We could use wires – but they can pull out of the physician’s thalamus rather often.
If the point is practicing medicine in a competent and satisfying way, that’s harder, and the AMA risks offending their masters. Better to restore joy to the practice of medicine, and I suggest a cheery nasal cocktail of AMAfentanyl, methamphetamine, and THC – just a touch, mind you – after every ICD-10 coding job. Keeps you trim and eager during the long winter.
The only purpose of the AMA is for there to continue to be an AMA, in order to preserve the AMA, so that future generations (of J-1 imports and mid-levels) will have the support of the AMA that continues to be so vital in pursuing the goals of the AMA.
Doug,
You are not the only one to call out the AMA on this. Many of us already voted with our feet… and checkbooks!