Endocrine Insider
December 11, 2008

In a continuing effort to advance The Endocrine Society's advocacy goals, the Society's delegates attended the American Medical Association's (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD) meeting in Florida in early November.  Drs. Susan Sherman, Daniel Spratt, and Vineeth Mohan represented the Society's interests in discussions that formed the basis for new AMA policy.

In addition to discussing new policy in committees attended by all specialty and state representatives, the Society's delegates participated in a meeting of the Endocrine Section Council, a group of all endocrine-related specialties represented in the House of Delegates.  The section council, which includes representatives from the Society, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, discussed resolutions of importance to endocrinologists, as well as topics such as the Patient-Centered Medical Home and funding of continuing medical education.  The section council meetings, which occur at each HOD meeting, provide an exciting opportunity for the endocrine-related organizations to share ideas and to develop consistent policies that allow the section council to speak with one voice during policy debates at the HOD meeting.

Although the Endocrine Section Council did not sponsor a resolution for consideration at this HOD meeting, there were resolutions that the section council members felt were important to endocrinologists.  Section council members tracked resolutions on the Patient-Centered Medical Home, designation of hospitals as centers of excellence for rare and complex cancers, Medicare enrollment delays, Medicare billing by mid-level providers, and substitution of bio-similar products.

The next meeting of the House of Delegates will take place in June 2009, and the Society's delegates will be tracking issues of importance to the Society's members across the next six month in order to identify potential resolutions.