As a physician in private practice, Dr. Mukkamala routinely confronts the same financial pressures that are driving many of his peers out of medicine.

To keep their doors open, many physicians are having to make difficult choices about staffing, technology investments or limiting the number of Medicare or Medicaid patients they see. And then there are the unrelenting inefficiencies of the prior authorization process.

Dr. Mukkamala outlined the many fronts on which the AMA continues to fight for a more functional and equitable health care system. Among them:

• Calling for long overdue Medicare physician payment reform.
• Addressing the increasingly dire physician shortage.
• Combating physician burnout by restoring time for direct patient care.
• Defending physician-led care through advocacy on scope of practice.