American Medical Association to use physicians' survey results to ease regulations

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently surveyed physicians about federal rules and regulations that increase their administrative costs and paperwork burden or that interfere with patient care without significantly benefiting patients or the government.

The survey was in response to an executive order President Obama issued on January 18 calling for all government agencies to complete an analysis of rules that may be ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.

According to AMA President Cecil B Wilson, MD, the AMA believes this executive order presented an opportunity for physicians to reduce time spent on paperwork and administrative tasks that could be better spent with patients,.

The survey, now closed, asked participants to choose the top 3 issues that they would like to see addressed from a list of 15. It also allowed respondents to provide information about a regulation or policy that was not included in the list.

Issues listed included: expedite implementation of the Affordable Care Act's administrative simplification provisions; amend Medicare's payment policy for consultations; simplify the e-prescribing program, publish remaining standards, and provide timely feedback reports; curb reorder requirements for chronic conditions; withdraw the physician lab signature requisition requirement; and ease the burden of the Medicare enrollment process.

Todd HL. New AMA survey invites physicians to weigh in on burdensome regulations. February 9, 2011. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/physician-survey-regulations.shtml. Accessed February 28, 2011.