Controversy Surrounds the AMA
By 2016, the AMA had seen 5 years of steady increases in membership, according to the AMA CEO's report. The group continues to lead, putting together coalitions with specialty societies on many important issues. But having to get all of these powerful groups in line can sometimes result in bland, watered-down positions. And even then, not everyone signs on.
Meanwhile, the AMA faces accusations of conflict of interest. Deriving no more than 14% of its revenue from membership dues, the AMA increasingly obtains its income from commercial ventures like selling the rights for its Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) system, according to a report[5] in The Hill by two pediatrics residents from Michigan.
The CPT venture represents "an intimate entanglement with the federal government," the authors argued. As a result, many doctors are "dissatisfied with [the AMA's] inability and refusal to accurately reflect their values and to effectively lobby" for physicians and patients in Washington, they wrote.
Doctors are also upset about the AMA's endorsement of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. "That was 7 years ago, and people still haven't forgotten," Norbeck says. More recently, an entirely different physician bloc was incensed about the AMA's support of Tom Price, MD, when he was nominated in December to become Health and Human Services secretary.
All of these controversial stances seem to be taking their toll on the AMA's authority and its ability to attract members. Norbeck suggests that the AMA should try a little harder to take a neutral position on issues that could divide the membership.
"Sometimes it's a better option not to take sides," he says. "It's always important to have the membership behind you. Even a 60-40 split can be a problem."
Recruiting Members Is a Challenge
It used to be that physicians felt an obligation to join organized medicine, but now they have to be sold on it, Norbeck says.
"To get physicians to join, medical societies have to be salespeople more than ever before," he says.
Recruiting physicians has become more difficult—even for the Texas Medical Association (TMA), which is widely acclaimed as the model for successful recruitment.
Although TMA membership hit the 50,000 mark for the first time last December, the percentage of Texas physicians who are members has fallen somewhat to about 70%, from 75% a few years before, according to Steve Levine, TMA's vice president for communications.
Levine says that physicians moving to Texas from out of state are not aware of the deep tradition of joining the medical society that native Texas doctors have. Arriving at rates that exceed the state's burgeoning population growth, these doctors have become a major recruitment challenge, Levine says.
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Cite this: Leigh Page. Can Organized Medicine Become Relevant Again? - Medscape - Aug 09, 2017.
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