AASM delegates represented the AASM at last week’s annual American Medical Association (AMA) meeting. Members participated in caucus meetings, including the Specialty and Service Society, the largest caucus in the AMA, reference committees, and the House of Delegates debating and voting on issues impacting the practice of medicine, including education, coverage, public health, and advocacy.
Several important policies were passed by the AMA House of Delegates, including the AASM co-sponsored parity in access to evidence-based obesity treatment, which promotes coverage parity for obesity treatment and opposes discriminatory insurance practices that limit coverage. Other important policies included:
- AMA advocacy support for screening and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea during pregnancy
- Addressing the OMB proposal to insert political influence into federal grantmaking decisions that diminishes the value of merit-based scientific investments
- Ensuring AI supports but does not replace physicians
- Prior authorization reform
- Fair physician payment
As the largest physician organization in the United States, participation in the AMA is crucial for AASM to influence policy that impacts sleep and sleep medicine. In the past, resolutions advocating for policy that could heavily impact AASM members have been introduced requiring the AASM and its delegates to advocate on behalf of our members and sleep medicine, ultimately resulting in positive policy related to sleep and sleep medicine for our members. This would not be possible without AASM member support.
The AASM’s AMA participation is dependent upon dual membership of individuals in the AASM and AMA. We urge you to become a member of the AMA, currently for half-dues, to ensure sleep medicine continues to be represented in the AMA in the future. Help us to continue to positively impact the field of medicine through your AMA membership.
