AMA House of Delegates
The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates is the premier policy-making body of the AMA. Comprising more than 500 delegates from more than 120 national medical specialty societies and more than 50 constituent state and territory societies, the House of Delegates meets twice each year to establish policy on health, medical, professional and governance matters, as well as the principles within which the AMA’s business activities are conducted.
Delegate apportionment for each year is based on official AMA membership records as of the end of the previous year, with one delegate apportioned for every 1,000 AMA physician members, or fraction thereof. The two delegates currently representing the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) in the AMA House of Delegates are:
- Patrick Strollo Jr., MD, FAASM
- Kelly Carden, MD, FAASM
Having representation in the House of Delegates enables the AASM to amplify the voice of sleep physicians in important health care policy decisions. It also allows the AASM to represent the sleep medicine specialty at two influential bodies that impact how all clinicians practice and get reimbursed:
- The AMA/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), which impacts CMS and private payor reimbursements
- The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) Advisory Committee, which provides guidance to the CPT Editorial Panel, which determines new codes for claims
Learn more from the AASM about the AMA CPT and RUC. For more information on the AMA House of Delegates, please contact AASM advocacy staff at policy@aasm.org or (630) 737-9700.
AMA Membership
Our seat in the AMA House of Delegates gives us a platform to represent the interests and needs of sleep specialists. However, this seat is dependent on having a sufficient number of AASM physician members who join the AMA. Please join the AMA or renew today to help the AASM keep this position of influence and ensure that the voice of sleep specialists is heard on issues of importance to our field. Learn more by reading, “The Case for Membership in the AMA,” a letter to the editor published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. We thank you for supporting the field of sleep medicine!