March 24

Statement Attributable to: Patrice A. Harris M.D., M.A., President, American Medical Association

"Physicians on the front line of this pandemic are grateful that CMS has waived Medicare reporting requirements, allowing clinicians to focus on patients. In the best of times, physician practices struggle to meet all the bureaucratic demands in the Medicare program. These are not the best of times.

"CMS' decision to offer relief from the reporting demands in the Quality Payment Program will be felt immediately. Doctors don't have much time to breathe a sigh of relief, but if they did, they would take a moment to thank CMS for this wise decision."

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the AMA supports physicians in their care of patients by providing timely advocacy to policymakers and by providing evidenced-based tools, resources and information. These efforts include:

• Publishing an AMA COVID-19 online resource center, Physicians Guide to COVID-19, and a COVID-19 FAQto help physicians prepare their practices, address patient concerns, and provide answers to physicians' top questions.
• Providing a comprehensive overview of the coronavirus by the JAMA Network - including epidemiology, infection control and prevention recommendations - available for free on its JN Learning website.
• Mobilizing a dramatic increase in the nation's telemedicine capacity through its advocacy and publication of the Quick Guide to Telemedicine in Practice, a new resource to help physicians implement remote care.
• Advocating to policymakers about urgent administrative and legislative needs to ensure that hospitals, health systems, physicians and nurses are viable and directly supported for preparedness and response.

The American Medical Association (AMA) continued its weeks-long advocacy to secure personal protective equipment (PPE) for physicians and frontline health care workers fighting COVID-19. AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A., published an op-ed in Modern Healthcare, "Trump administration must use every lever in the fight against COVID-19," and appeared on Morning Joe and the TODAY Show to urge the Administration to fully leverage the production and distribution mechanisms of the Defense Production Act to ramp up access to PPE.

Additionally, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Editor-in-Chief Howard Bauchner, M.D., and several other authors published an editorial with a "call for ideas" on "creative immediate solutions for how to maximize the use of PPE, to conserve the supply of PPE and to identify new sources of PPE." They indicated interest in "suggestions, recommendations and potential actions from individuals who have relevant experience, especially from physicians, other health care professionals and administrators in hospitals and other clinical settings."

The AMA's advocacy on PPE in recent weeks includes:

• In a small virtual meeting with President Trump, Vice President Pence and other senior Administration officials, Dr. Harris advocated strongly for government solutions to address PPE supply challenges.
• The AMA called on the Administration to use every lever to increase PPE through DPA and other means
• A March 19 letter with AHA and ANA to Congressional Leaders asking Congress to allocate $100 billion to the front line health care personnel and providers.
• A March 18 letter to Mike Pence and Congressional Leaders re: joint industry letter that asks for help with expanding public health capacity and access to and the availability of testing and to take action to mitigate the economic and societal impact of COVID-19.
• A March 16 letter with AHA and ANA to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi re: assistance in providing front line health care providers with financial support.
• A March 16 letter to Vice President Michael Pence that included a request for assistance with shortage of personal protective equipment for health care professionals.
• A March 13 letter to H.H.S. Secretary Alex Azar re: assistance for solutions facing the nation with the COVID-19 outbreak, including PPE.