AMA House of Delegates Meeting Focuses on COVID-19, Passes Resolution to Study Impact on PALTC

Last week’s American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD) Annual Meeting deliberated hundreds of resolutions, many dealing with the impact of COVID-19. AMDA’s delegation to the meeting—including Delegates Rajeev Kumar, MD, CMD; Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD; and Alternate Delegates Leslie Eber, MD, CMD and Walter Lin, MD—supported one such resolution that asked the AMA to study the impact of COVID-19 on PALTC. During deliberations, the AMA Council on Science and Public Health noted that organizations like AMDA are already working in this area and asked that the AMA work with AMDA and similar organizations on this issue. Dr. Eber provided supporting testimony on the resolution, stating that COVID-19 had a significant impact on patients, residents, and clinicians in this field and offered AMDA’s support for working with the AMA on ways to improve PALTC moving forward. Ultimately, the resolution passed the AMA HOD with near unanimous consent.

Specifically, the resolution read:

RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association collaborate with other stakeholders to develop policy to guide federal, state, and local public health authorities to ensure safe operation of post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) facilities during public health emergencies and natural disasters with policy recommendations to include but not limited to:

a) Planning for adequate funding and access to resources

b) Planning for emergency staffing of health care and maintenance personnel

c) Planning for ensuring safe working conditions of PALTC staff and

d) Planning for mitigation of the detrimental effects 13 of increased isolation of residents during a natural disaster, other environmental emergency

(Directive to Take Action)

During the meeting, the AMA installed  Gerard E. Harmon, MD, a family medicine specialist from South Carolina, as its next president. Likewise, the AMA elected Jack Resneck Jr, MD, a dermatologist from California, as its next president-elect. For a full recap of the meeting, please visit https://www.ama-assn.org/house-delegates/special-meeting.