The American Medical Association (AMA) has formed an “innovators committee” to look at new payment and delivery models as part of its new strategic plan, Dr. Steven J. Stack, Chair, AMA Board of Trustees, told doctors at the December meeting of the Durham Orange County Medical Society.   

The new plan seeks to proactively and positively address the challenges in the healthcare arena today in three core areas:  1) Improving health outcomes 2) accelerating change in medical education and 3) enhancing physician’s satisfaction and practice sustainability. The “innovators committee” will be going into practices in six different states to identify common themes and issues.

Many medical students from Duke and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill attended the meeting and expressed interest in the AMA’s involvement in medical education.  Dr. Stack explained that within the next five years the AMA will establish partnerships with select medical schools and health care systems.  There will be grant funding to these schools to work on key areas in medical education. Of central focus will be developing new methods for measuring and assessing key competencies for physicians at all training levels. Patient safety, performance improvement and a patient centered team care approach will be promoted.  This model will include improving understanding of the healthcare system and health care financing.  Everyone agreed that this is such a complex facet of medicine today that improved training is necessary.

Dr. Stack encouraged all physicians and mid-level practitioners to continue to work together and stay active as we face the many challenges in healthcare today.  In his words, we all need to be “prepared to succeed.”