AMA elects president focused on patient-physician relationships

Key takeaways:

• The AMA has elected its next president, who vowed to fight for a future in which physicians can spend more time with patients.
• He also noted significant challenges facing the field, like Medicare reform.

Physicians and medical students elected the next president of the AMA at its annual House of Delegates meeting.

Following a year-long term as president-elect, Bobby Mukkamala, MD, an otolaryngologist from Flint, Mich., will be installed as AMA president in June 2025.

“I am honored to be chosen by my peers as the AMA’s president-elect and I am eager to continue fighting for better health care for all our communities,” Mukkamala said in a press release.

Mukkamala, chair of the AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force, has been active in the nation’s largest physician organization since his residency. He previously received the AMA Foundation’s Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award, was elected to the AMA Council on Science and Public Health, served as the council’s chair and was twice elected to the AMA Board of Trustees. The most rewarding and important part of Mukkamala’s job, he said, is connecting with his patients.

Mukkamala has also served “as a strong voice in advocating for evidence-based policies to end the nation’s overdose epidemic,” according to the release, and “played a central role in response to the Flint water crisis.”

“It is a turbulent time to be a physician in this country,” Mukkamala said in the release. “Challenges like an unsustainable Medicare payment system, excessive prior authorization, and physician burnout have put our health system in a precarious place. But the AMA is fighting these battles in Congress, in state capitals, and in our communities to achieve a better future where physicians can spend more time with their patients.”

Outgoing president Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, also mentioned some of these challenges during the final speech of his tenure. Ehrenfeld offered “a stark assessment of a health system in crisis,” according to a press release, in which he promised continued AMA advocacy for reduced prior authorization burden and Medicare reform.

“Reforming our broken Medicare payment system that punishes doctors for being doctors is why we fight. Medicare reimbursement has plummeted 29% since I was in medical school ... and that’s after the AMA was able to claw back half of the planned cuts for 2024,” Ehrenfeld said. “I am proud to stand here before this House to tell you that momentum is shifting toward significant reform. And we are changing the conversation.”

Thanks to the AMA’s work, there is now a general acceptance that current payment models do not work, and a “growing support in Congress for Medicare reforms aligned with AMA’s models that seek to put physicians on equal footing with all other health care providers,” he said.

“We are keeping the pressure on because our current system is unsustainable and because physicians shouldn’t have to worry about how they’ll keep the lights on,” he said.

References:

• Michigan otolaryngologist chosen as AMA president-elect. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/michigan-otolaryngologist-chosen-ama-president-elect. Published June 7, 2024. Accessed June 10, 2024.
• With health care in crisis, AMA continues fighting for physicians. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/health-care-crisis-ama-continues-fighting-physicians. Published June 7, 2024. Accessed June 10, 2024.