During the opening session of the 2015 AMA Interim Meeting, AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD, discussed the current state of healthcare in the U.S. and how the moments physicians spend with patients truly matter.
Dr. Stack talked about how administrative burdens and overwhelming bureaucratic protocols kept him from spending time with a patient to whom he had to deliver a diagnosis of potentially terminal cancer.
"It actually makes me sick that I didn't have time to be the physician I know I am, the partner that patient deserved in his time of need," said Dr. Stack.
According to Dr. Stack, the AMA's Break the Red Tape campaign is designed to combat this problem and help strengthen the patient-physician relationship by sending thousands of stories to Congress from physicians telling them that, "the ever-increasing bureaucracy is stealing their time and threatening the quality of care physicians can deliver to their patients."
Watch Dr. Stack's full address below.
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