The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a decision to restrict public and private higher-education institutions from considering an applicant’s race or ethnicity in admission decisions. The court’s action effectively overturns nearly five decades of precedent allowing for limited use of affirmative action in college admissions. The Supreme Court’s six conservative justices carried the majority in two separate cases involving race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

The decision “undermines decades of progress centered on the educational value of diversity and will reverse gains made in the battle against health inequities,” said AMA President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, who is a senior associate dean, tenured professor of anesthesiology and director of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

The AMA and more than 40 other organizations joined an Association of American Medical Colleges-led amicus brief that urged the high court to “take no action that would disrupt the admissions processes the nation’s health-professional schools have carefully crafted in reliance on this court’s longstanding precedents.”

Dr. Ehrenfeld said the ruling “restricts medical schools from considering race and ethnicity among the multiple factors in admissions policies and will translate into a less diverse physician workforce.”

My latest for the AMA. The whole shebang.

More than 900 health care facilities took active part in the most recent edition of the Human Rights Campaign’s “Healthcare Equality Index,” the country’s foremost benchmarking survey of health care organizations’ policies and practices dedicated to the equitable treatment and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees. …

Nearly 500 facilities earned the Human Rights Campaign’s “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” designation, receiving the maximum score in each section and earning an overall score of 100.

Among them are these members of the AMA Health System Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.

My latest for the AMA. The whole shebang.

A bipartisan group of 60 senators has reintroduced the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act. The CONNECT for Health Act, S. 2016, will expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare, make permanent COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities, improve health outcomes, and make it easier for patients to connect with their doctors.

My latest for the AMA. The whole shebang.

The AMA has been on the road fighting for Medicare physician payment reform for well over a decade, and the system remains on an unsustainable path. Temporary patches and ongoing cuts to the Medicare physician payment system have left physician practices and patient access to care at serious risk.

Payment cuts, freezes and redistributions have further exacerbated the challenge. When adjusted for inflation, Medicare physician payment has effectively declined 26% from 2001 to 2023.

Despite that stark reality, Congress and the administration are still not focused on fixing the root of the problem—the payment system itself. But it’s time for that to change. It’s essential that leaders in Washington work with the physician community on immediate, preventative measures, as well as long-term solutions that will reform the payment model once and for all.

“This cannot wait; we are past the breaking point,” said AMA President Jack Resneck Jr., MD. “Congress must urgently address physician concerns about Medicare to account for inflation and the post-pandemic economic reality facing practices nationwide.”

My latest for the AMA. Read the whole shebang, as reported from the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting this week in Chicago.

Also check out my other coverage of the meeting:

• Highlights from the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting
• ICYMI: 10 stories to read from the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting