Physician organizations offer a variety of benefits, from hard advantages like leadership roles and professional development opportunities to “soft” ones like networking opportunities. But deciding whether a doctor association is worth your time and money can be difficult without a clear understanding of what they do. A good way to figure out which groups could benefit you is by finding out more about the group’s history and its mission.
In a medical profession that is constantly changing, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest developments in medicine and your specialty area. This is the purpose of a doctor association, which gathers information from across the country and abroad, consolidates it, and then sends it to physicians. Doctor associations can also provide a voice for doctors in government agencies and in the media.
A doctor association can also help you find research funding, and it’s a good place to network with other doctors. Oftentimes, the organization will have a newsletter that keeps members updated on the latest in their field of study and provides a forum for expressing their opinions. In addition, medical associations can provide a range of resources and services to their members, including discounted continuing education courses, negotiated pricing on health insurance and discounts on medical equipment and supplies.
Depending on the type of doctor association, they can also have political clout. For example, some may donate to the candidate of their choice, which can have an impact on election results. Those donations have historically been split fairly evenly between the two major parties, but they’re generally a lot more heavily weighted in favor of Republicans than Democrats.
There are many physician organizations, ranging from large national groups to smaller county or state societies. Typically, older physicians are more likely to belong to a local or national specialty society while younger physicians are less likely. Nevertheless, all groups can provide a valuable service to physicians by providing them with the opportunity to network and find out about new developments in their field of specialty and in healthcare as a whole.
The American Medical Association (AMA) is one of the oldest and largest international medical organizations. The AMA works to promote high standards in medical education and practice, science and ethics, as well as representing the interests of doctors in legal and public affairs. The AMA also publishes a number of medical journals, most notably the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The AMA’s roots go back to an infamous duel in 1818. While this bloody skirmish didn’t save Transylvania Medical School, it helped launch the AMA and set the stage for the medical association to become the most powerful organization in the world. The AMA’s first priority was to ensure that doctors were informed about advancements in medicine, and the Society has since expanded its efforts to include medical education, peer review, government regulations and health policy. In addition, the AMA has developed many valuable tools for the medical profession, such as Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), which is used to describe medical procedures and bill insurance companies.