Member News

On June 9-13, 2018, AAPM&R delegates participated in the Annual Meeting for the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD). The AAPM&R delegation was represented by Drs. Susan Hubbell (AMA Delegate and PM&R Section Council Chair), Stuart Glassman (AMA Delegate), and Brittany Bicklehaupt (Resident and Fellow Section Representative, Alternate Delegate).

AAPM&R, as a recipient of a grant to Improve Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (IDD) education, introduced and advocated for the following resolution:

Resolution 304: Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Designated as a Medically Underserved Population

1. RESOLVED, that our American Medical Association advocate that the Health Resources and Services Administration include persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as a medically underserved population.
2. RESOLVED, that our AMA encourage medical schools and graduate medical education programs to include IDD-related competencies and objectives in their curricula.

Many delegates spoke in support of Resolution 304, noting that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities represent a unique high-risk population that may require additional health resources beyond those which are readily available to them. As a result, the HOD voted to accept Resolve 1 as official policy of the AMA. However, the HOD voted that current AMA policy be reaffirmed in lieu of Resolve 2, as existing policy (H-90.968, “Medical Care of Persons with Developmental Disabilities”) already calls for education on this important topic.

Many additional timely reports and resolutions were discussed by the HOD, with topics including Health Care Reform (changes to Medicaid), Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternate Payment Models (APMs), Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and Opioid Prescribing and Substance Use Disorder – related issues. Click here to view the full report of activities at this years Annual HOD Meeting.