IDSA and allied organizations representing a broad array of medical subspecialties participate in the AMA House of Delegates – a body whose work impacts the practice of medicine across the United States. Maintaining a presence allows IDSA to advocate for or speak against policies that affect the everyday practice of ID.
This year, for example, IDSA was instrumental in working with AMA's Specialty Society RVS Update Committee in which IDSA had a voting representative. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses the work of this committee when developing Relative Value Units - which has a direct impact on how ID clinicians are paid for their important work. Our advocacy and participation led to increases in the value of nine E&M codes for office visits.
To keep our seat at the table to ensure there is a voice speaking up for the ID workforce, we're asking members this year to renew with IDSA and join AMA.
For members who join or renew with both IDSA and AMA, IDSA will provide you with a complimentary membership to give to a colleague who has not been a member of IDSA for the last three years.
Why is IDSA asking about this now?
Every five years, AMA counts its members amongst specialty societies represented in the House of Delegates. Each society must have 20% or 1,000 (whichever is fewer) of its eligible members as members of AMA in order to maintain a seat in the House of Delegates. Last year, IDSA did not meet that number.
I’m ready to participate, what do I need to do?
Renew your membership in IDSA and join or renew your membership with AMA for 2020. IDSA staff will follow up with you approximately 30 days after you have completed both steps.
I’ve renewed my IDSA membership and joined AMA, what’s next?
On a monthly basis, IDSA will receive a list of members who have joined AMA as a part of this campaign. IDSA staff will send an email to qualifying members with a link to a form to provide us with the name and contact information of the colleague to whom you would like to provide a complimentary membership. The membership team will confirm that your colleague is not already a member and will send them a code to use on the member application to receive their complimentary membership.
I don’t agree with many of the AMA policies; why would I or my colleagues join?
Our advocacy and participation in the AMA ensure that there is a voice speaking up for the ID workforce. Without your membership in the AMA, IDSA and the field of ID would not have representatives in the AMA House of Delegates.
Aren’t there other ways IDSA can impact policy without representation in AMA?
IDSA engages in many arenas to positively impact the practice of ID in patient care, education, research, public health and prevention -- through advocacy on Capitol Hill, public policy statements, our treatment guidelines, direct engagement with federal agencies, and government working groups on issues from antimicrobial resistance to ending the HIV epidemic. AMA is an important arena in which positions are taken that impact the field of ID, making it critically important that IDSA is present to represent the voice of ID.