AMAGINE? Another reason docs don’t trust the AMA

Katherine Rourke provided good food for thought in her expose of the likely politically-driven AMAGINE database.  Apparently, the AMA has contracted experts who will analyze a doctor’s practice and make a careful selection of the EMR vendor right for them.  However, the selection seems fairly limited to those EMR vendors who appear to have a special relationship with the AMA — cough, cough, paid advertising, cough, cough.  Under each section of the AMAGINE website, there are about three choices for each type of software one could possibly desire (EMR, e-prescribing, patient reporting and registries, etc).  This obviously is not the 300+ vendors out there, so one scratches their head at why these vendors and not the others.

The AMA has long been eschewed by many doctors who find it appearing to be a bloated political action committee that has lost touch with what doctors really want… someone pushing for issues that could benefit the majority of practicing doctors.  Its membership dues seem to go up every year, and this year, for me, would have been $415.  For that amount of money, I need to realize some benefit to membership besides a nice magazine, which is usually what appears to be the only benefit I actually find myself using.

Dr. West is an endocrinologist in private practice in Washington, DC. He completed fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. West opened The Washington Endocrine Clinic, PLLC, as a solo practice in 2009.  He can be reached at doctorwestindc@gmail.com.

About the author

Dr. Michael West

Dr. West is an endocrinologist in private practice in Washington, DC. He completed fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. West opened The Washington Endocrine Clinic, PLLC in 2009. He can be contacted at doctorwestindc@gmail.com.

   

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