ACR Delegation Asks AMA to Address Issues Impacting Rheumatology

Gary Bryant, MD

The American Medical Association House of Delegates (AMA HOD) will convene in person in Chicago June 10–15 after two years of virtual meetings. The House of Delegates will hear resolutions on health equity, physician burnout and utilization management concerns, such as prior authorization and step therapy. During the meeting, the ACR delegation (led by Gary Bryant, MD) will co-lead Resolution 223, “National Drug Shortages of Lidocaine and Saline Preparations,” and Resolution 529, “ARPA-H Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.” Other issues that will be debated and addressed include drug pricing models, the prevention or mitigation of future Medicare payment cuts and federal advocacy for reform of the current Medicare physician payment system.

At the House of Delegates meeting this month, the ACR will co-lead a resolution introduced by the American Academy of Dermatology, Resolution 223, “National Drug Shortages of Lidocaine and Saline Preparations.” The resolution calls for the AMA to work with specialty societies to draft a letter to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to promptly address supply shortages of saline and lidocaine. The resolution also calls for wholesalers to consider small, independent and new practices without significant purchasing power when distributing drugs with limited supplies.

The ACR is also co-leading a resolution focused on funding the newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). Led by the Association for Clinical Oncology, Resolution 519 calls on the AMA to advocate for Congress and the administration to ensure research funding for ARPA-H and increase baseline funding for other research agencies and institutes, such as the National Institutes of Health.

In recent years, the ACR has authored and led or cosponsored actions on several key rheumatology issues, including pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform, copay accumulator policies, complex treatment administration and reimbursement, mandatory payment models, home infusion, prior authorization, step therapy and more. ACR members can support this work by joining the AMA and renewing your AMA membership each year to allow the ACR delegation to work on your behalf.

You Can Help

Rheumatology’s voice at the House of Delegates meeting is determined on the basis of the number of ACR members who are also members of the AMA, so each person who is a member of both organizations adds to the strength of these efforts. Join the AMA or renew your membership in 2022 to receive membership benefits and do your part to help advance rheumatology. This representation allows the ACR to add to AMA official policies and spur AMA action on issues important to our specialty.