AMA Interim Meeting Update: Call for Vaping Ban; Illinois Student Elected to Leadership Post
Blake Murphy is a medical student at the Stritch School of Medicine. Last weekend physicians from across the United States gathered for the AMA’s Interim Meeting and your delegation from the Illinois State Medical Society was in attendance, proudly representing your interests.
The hot topic at the meeting was establishing organized medicine’s response to the recent outbreak of vaping-related illness. The AMA adopted several new vaping policies, including support for a ban on vaping devices that are not FDA-approved for smoking cessation. Illinois medical resident Christiana
Shoushtari, MD,
co-authored a resolution that was adopted by the AMA
(Resolution 820) urging the creation of ICD-10 codes for vaping-associated illness.
ISMS co-sponsored a new policy
(Resolution 205) to ensure patients receive some financial benefit when using manufacturers’ coupons for prescriptions. Credits from coupons aren’t always applied to deductibles, allowing insurers to pay less while patients experience no difference in their total out-of-pocket expense. The new AMA policy supports
development of model legislation to ensure coupon savings are applied to deductible limits.
Finally, we are excited to share the news that Blake Murphy was elected to represent medical students on the AMA’s Board of Trustees. Ms. Murphy is an ISMS member and will begin her service on the board in June. Congratulations!
At the AMA Interim Meeting: From left to right, Holly Rosencranz, MD; J. Regan Thomas, MD; Vikram Patel, MD; Richard Geline, MD; Laura Shea, MD; Smitha Arekapudi, MD; Howard Chodash, MD; Christine Bishof, MD; Shastri Swaminathan, MD; James Milam, MD; Steven Malkin, MD; Peter Eupierre, MD; Piyush Vyas, MD; Steven Williams, MD; Katherine Tynus, MD; Robert Panton, MD; and Christiana Shoushtari, MD.
From left to right, Steven Williams, MD; Nestor Ramirez, MD; Niva Lubin-Johnson, MD; Smitha Arekapudi, MD; Howard Axe, MD; Holly Rosencranz, MD; Shastri Swaminathan, MD; Neha Siddiqui; and Rodney Alford, MD.