Urgent Call to Action — Help Us by Joining AMA!

The Heart Rhythm Society is currently working to qualify for an advisor seat in the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates. To do so we need to demonstrate that 25 percent of our physician members in the U.S. are also AMA members. Currently we have approximately 23.3 percent.

In a letter sent on August 10, 2009 Society senior leadership, including many past presidents, wrote "We know that many of you believe that AMA does not always represent your interests. You are not alone. But it is critical that the Society is in all policymaking arenas to influence the future of EP practice. The AMA House of Delegates opens important doors for us — especially those entities who are in control of identifying Medicare procedures that will be reimbursed and performance measures that will be the basis for Medicare reimbursement in the future." Read full text of letter »

How AMA Advisor Status Helps Your Heart Rhythm Society

Advisor status will not only allow the Heart Rhythm Society to vote on important AMA policy in the House of Delegates, but will enable us to directly participate in the Medicare reimbursement code change review and valuation processes. As a member of the AMA House of Delegates, the Society will be able to appoint physician representatives to the Advisory Committees of the AMA’s CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) Editorial Panel and the Specialty Society Relative Value Scale (RVS) Update Committee (RUC) to represent us and the cardiac arrhythmia profession.

Presently, we are excluded from both processes except when invited by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) to participate in the development of coding changes and relative values of particular relevance to cardiac arrhythmia services. Advisor status will also improve the Society’s relationships with national and commercial third-party payers and policy decision makers.

Advisor status in the House of Delegates will also give the Heart Rhythm Society voting rights in the AMA Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI). For example, while we are a member of the PCPI work group currently updating heart failure measures to ensure appropriate electrophysiology services are represented, the Society will not be permitted to vote on these measures.

We urge you to join the AMA today to help us ensure that electrophysiology is appropriately represented among the medical specialties in AMA policy. With a seat in the AMA House of Delegates, the Heart Rhythm Society will collaborate with ACC to strengthen the voice of cardiology.

If you have any questions, please e-mail Isabelle LeBlanc or e-mail membership@HRSonline.org.