MMA Delegates Attend AMA Annual Meeting Amid Public Distrust and Misinformation

June 18, 2026

This year’s Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD), held June 5-10 in Chicago, seemed to carry a defining theme: practicing medicine and advocating at a time of increasing misinformation, distrust in science, and suspicion of policy and research organizations. 

Resolutions before the HOD addressed misinformation, patient safety, scope of practice, challenges faced by immigrant patients and physicians, reimbursement, new and potentially onerous definitions of medical frailty, medical student loan caps, and the rapidly expanding role of artificial intelligence in healthcare. 

Minnesota was well-represented at the AMA Annual Meeting with a combination of members and staff.

Minnesota co-sponsored a resolution to protect Medicaid beneficiaries from politically motivated or procedurally deficient federal funding deferrals. The resolution directed the AMA to oppose withholding or deferral of Medicaid funding when such actions are arbitrary, disproportionate, inconsistent with established legal and administrative processes, or likely to cause undue disruption to patient care or state Medicaid program operations.  

The national otolaryngology delegation introduced a resolution supporting universal neonatal congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) screening. Because Minnesota is one of the first states in the nation to implement this screening, the Minnesota delegation was asked to testify about its experience. With useful information provided by the Minnesota Department of Health, Laurel Ries, MD, offered testimony. The resolution was referred to the AMA Board of Trustees for further study. 

The AMA also adopted policy calling for studies of patient outcomes between independent or “autonomous” non-physician practitioner models and physician-led MD/DO models. These studies are to include measures of patient safety, quality, utilization, access, cost, and health outcomes, with the goal of publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals. 

Minnesota's delegation included Laurel Ries, MD (left); Andrea Hillerud, MD; President Lisa Mattson, MD; and AMA delegation chair Cindy Firkins Smith, MD.

Considering recently released federal guidance, the AMA resolved to work with CMS, state Medicaid agencies, and state and specialty medical associations to establish clinically grounded medical frailty exemptions from Medicaid work and community engagement requirements.  

The AMA also adopted policy affirming that gender-affirming healthcare includes social, medical, and surgical care, guided by a shared decision-making process involving the physician, patient, and legal guardians when applicable. The AMA further resolved to advocate for new and restored funding and opportunities for gender-affirming healthcare. In addition, the AMA committed to collaborating with relevant specialty societies and multidisciplinary experts to support education of physicians and trainees on evidence-based, patient-centered, shared decision-making gender-affirming healthcare. 

Other key outcomes from the meeting included: 

1. Greater clarity on medical student and resident/fellow inclusion processes within the AMA. 

2. Support for a study on recommendations to improve healthcare coverage for people with undocumented status.. 

3. Support for physician rights and authority to decline, modify, or limit administratively determined patient volume expectations, scheduling mandates, and staffing conditions when the physician, using clinical judgment, believes those conditions would harm patients or negatively affect patient-centered care. 

4. Continued work on guidelines for chaperones during sensitive examinations. 

5. Progress, with further work needed, on guidelines and principles for physician involvement in collective action and unionization. 

Along with policy discussions, the meeting included the inauguration of Willie Underwood III, MD, MSc, MPH, a board-certified urologist from New York, as the 181st AMA president.  In his inaugural address, he inspired those in attendance to lead with courage as physicians work to transform healthcare.  

The AMA also elected Sandra Fryhofer, MD, as its president-elect. Fryhofer is a board-certified internal medicine physician based in Atlanta. She was elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in June 2018, and served as chair of the board in 2022–23.  

The MMA was well-represented by its delegates and alternate delegates including: JP Abenstein, MSEE, MD, FASA; Andrea Hillerud, MD; MMA President Lisa Mattson, MD; George Morris, MD; Dennis O’Hare, MD; Ashok Patel, MD; Laurel Ries, MD; Cindy Firkins Smith, MD; and David Thorson, MD. Resident section delegates Sheryl Fuehrer, MD; Kate Holder, MD; and Michael Rigby, MD, PhD also attended, along with Janet Silversmith, MMA CEO, and Adrian Uphoff, MPH, MPP, MMA manager of health policy & regulatory affairs. Also in attendance at the meeting was Minnesota physician and AMPAC board member, Mary Lawrence, MD.