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American Medical Association

American Medical Association
American Medical Association (logo).png
Motto Helping Doctors Help Patients
Formation May 7, 1847; 169 years ago (1847-05-07)
Type Professional association
Headquarters Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Location
  • United States
Membership
217,490 as of 2011
Official language
English
President
Andrew W. Gurman, M.D.
Key people
Board Chair Patrice A. Harris, M.D.; CEO & EVP James Madara, M.D.
Website www.ama-assn.org

The American Medical Association (AMA), founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of physicians—both MDs and DOs—and medical students in the United States.

The AMA's stated mission is to promote the art and science of medicine for the betterment of the public health, to advance the interests of physicians and their patients, to promote public health, to lobby for legislation favorable to physicians and patients, and to raise money for medical education. The Association also publishes the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which has the largest circulation of any weekly medical journal in the world. The AMA also publishes a list of Physician Specialty Codes which are the standard method in the U.S. for identifying physician and practice specialties.

In 1847 after a report by physician Nathan Smith Davis, members of the AMA met in Philadelphia as a national professional medical organization, the first of its kind in the world, going on to establish uniform standards for medical education, training, and practice, the world's first national code for ethical medical practice. Ever since, the AMA Code of Medical Ethics dictates professional conduct for practicing physicians.

The AMA has one of the largest political lobbying budgets of any organization in the United States. Its political positions throughout its history have often been controversial. In the 1930s, the AMA attempted to prohibit its members from working for the health maintenance organizations established during the Great Depression, which violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and resulted in a conviction ultimately affirmed by the US Supreme Court. The American Medical Association's vehement campaign against Medicare in the 1950s and 1960s included the Operation Coffee Cup, supported by Ronald Reagan. Since the enactment of Medicare, the AMA reversed its position and now opposes any "cut to Medicare funding or shift [of] increased costs to beneficiaries at the expense of the quality or accessibility of care". However, the AMA remains opposed to any single-payer health care plan that might enact a National Health Service in the United States, such as the United States National Health Care Act. In the 1990s, the organization was part of the coalition that defeated the health care reform advanced by Hillary and Bill Clinton.


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