Health Care Reform Expected to Be Major Topic at AMA Meeting

The AMA's 2012 Annual Meeting begins this weekend in Chicago, presided over by psychiatrist Jeremy Lazarus, M.D., only the second psychiatrist to be president of the AMA. (The first psychiatrist was Rock Slyester, M.D., who was installed as the 93rd president of the AMA on May 16, 1939.)

Health care reform is sure to be a prominent topic at this year's meeting, especially as the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is expected any day now and may well be announced while the House is in session.

Psychiatry has grown to have enormous influence in the House of Delegates. At last year’s meeting, Lazarus was elected president, and psychiatrist Patrice Harris, M.D., was elected to the AMA Board of Trustees. Additionally, former APA President and Assembly Speaker John McIntyre, M.D., won election to a second term on the AMA's influential Council on Medical Service. And Stuart Gitlow, M.D., Ph.D., won reelection to the Council on Science and Public Health.

Look to Psychiatric News for coverage of this year’s meeting. For more information about psychiatry’s influence at the AMA, see Psychiatric News here. 

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