WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- The American Medical Association hopes a more focused agenda, a national advertising campaign and a new logo will reverse a trend of declining membership and strengthen its position with the public.
Despite the AMA's efforts, however, critics say the organization will continue to deteriorate because of its business ventures, including an embarrassing 1997 endorsement of Sunbeam Corp. health products, a deal it later backed out of.
"This campaign highlights the AMA's commitment to unify all physicians and shape the future of healthcare," AMA President Dr. John C. Nelson told reporters during a teleconference at the organization's annual House of Delegates meeting.
The goal of the marketing strategy is to recruit new members and member organizations, as well as build upon the AMA's public name recognition. It also hopes to attract 250,000 so-called joiner physicians by identifying their needs.
"AMA membership has been declining since the 1960s," said Dr. Michael D. Maves, AMA executive vice president and chief executive officer. He attributed the continuing decline to the rise of prominent specialty organizations.
In 2004 there were approximately 244,530 members, and the organization saw a 2.4-percent membership decline compared to 6.4 percent in 2002. Over the years AMA regular membership steadily has declined while memberships have increased among students and retired individuals who get a discounted rate.
Currently, of 800,000 physicians nationwide, the AMA has about a 28-percent market share, Maves said.
This year the AMA expects a 1-percent increase in paying members and, so far, membership is higher than last year, said Maves, who did not give an exact number or makeup of the current membership.
Among the issues that will top the AMA's expanded agenda, medical-liability reform -- already a priority -- remains at the top. Other issues member surveys showed were important include Medicare physician payment reform, care for the uninsured and improving public health.
Moreover, the AMA also launched a $60 million, three-year advertising campaign that champions doctors and promotes the organization. To represent the future of medicine, the logo change includes replacing its teal color with purple and introducing a more contemporary-looking staff of Asclepius, the Greek symbol of medicine.
Dr. Mary Frank, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, said the AMA's decision to expand its agenda will help the organization with membership more than an advertising campaign and logo change.
"By addressing the needs of the public in this country and the physicians who take care of them, they are making themselves more attractive," said Frank, an AMA member.
Since the 1980s the AAFP, a member organization of the AMA, also has worked on issues of the uninsured and increasing access to healthcare, she said.
Critics, however, said the AMA campaign will not work, especially when the organization depends mainly on business revenues rather than membership dues.
"Unfortunately, the AMA is running a business that doesn't represent patients and physicians -- it represents its own business interests," said Andrew Schlafly, general counsel for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Schlafly told United Press International memberships are less than 20 percent of AMA's revenue, which means more than 80 percent of revenue comes from business ventures.
In 1997 the AMA agreed to endorse Sunbeam products but backed out when members protested the deal, forcing the organization to pay millions of dollars to end the venture.
"Ethics aren't even in their agenda," Schlafly said. "They are slowly dying; in 10 years, they are going to be irrelevant, heading for extinction."
Leana Wen, national president of American Medical Student Association, told UPI the AMA does not represent the idealistic nature of today's medical students, who are interested in their patients rather than money.
"Young doctors want good healthcare for patients -- not getting more money for ourselves like what the AMA wants," said Wen, who added the No. 1 issue should not be medical liability but advocating universal healthcare.
The AMSA has a membership of 60,000 and boasts a 17-percent increase over the past two years, said Wen, who added she expects it to continue to grow.
"Most medical students are very idealistic," she said. "Overall, we want another organization that stands for patient advocacy, and that organization doesn't exist right now."
