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CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association's House of Delegates moved toward support of a "unified and standardized" residency application and match process for all non-military residents.
The action was taken during the House's second day of voting on resolutions and reports to direct the AMA during the coming year.
But the AMA referred two related proposals to its Board of Trustees for additional study. One of those directed the AMA to reach out to both the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology and the American Urological Association -- two specialties that don't participate in the National Resident Matching Program -- to give up their separate matches in favor of the NRMP match.
The other sought to reduce the students' application and travel costs by permitting the NRMP to allow sequential matches in specialties that require a preliminary training year.
Both urology and ophthalmology delegates spoke out against those proposals, arguing that trainees matched in their specialties had a high level of satisfaction with the process. "You've got a system that's working very well," said Kevin Flaherty, MD, speaking for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, "and for AMA to tell an organization how to match its residents is really quite onerous." More pointedly, Kenneth B. Simmons, MD, a Milwaukee, ophthalmologist who also serves on the NRMP board, said there was little interest in unifying residency matches. He said the NRMP had already approached the urologists with a proposal to unify and was told that there was no interest in doing so.
Death by Law Enforcement
Also Tuesday, the AMA referred to its Board of Trustees a resolution that asked it to "encourage the CDC and state departments of health to collect data on serious law-enforcement-related injuries and deaths and make law-enforcement-related deaths a notifiable condition."
While the American Academy of Family Physicians pushed for a decision, several other speakers successfully lobbied AMA to take its time. "We need reliable evidence," said Rohan Rastogi, a medical student at Boston University School of Medicine.
"There was confusion regarding what exactly would be reported" via the data collection, according to an AMA committee report presented to delegates before the discussion. "Specifically, questions were raised regarding the definition of 'serious.' "
Speaking for the American Urological Association, Willie Underwood, MD, an African American, told of his own chilling experience when a police officer pulled him over and then appeared to pull a gun when Underwood reached for his wallet. During the incident, Underwood's 9-year-0ld daughter was sitting in the backseat, reading a book. The AMA's role countering law enforcement violence needs to be examined in much more detail, Underwood said. Underwood's remarks were met by a round of applause and the delegates then approved the referral on a voice vote.
McAneny Wins Election
Barbara McAneny, MD, of Innovative Oncology Business Solutions, won the post of AMA president-elect in elections Tuesday morning. McAneny will take office in June 2018.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said, addressing the House inside a large, dimly-lit hotel ballroom. "I promise to work my heart out for you."
McAneny, also a medical oncologist/hematologist in New Mexico, previously chaired the AMA's Board of Trustees and Council on Medical Service; she also served as president of the New Mexico Medical Society and the New Mexico chapter of the American College of Physicians. She earned her MD at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Iowa, and completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of New Mexico.
McAneny defeated Stephen Permut, MD, JD, chair of Temple University's family and community medicine department.