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Antitrust Relief AMA Hosts "National Call for Action on Antitrust" Congressman Tom Campbell, AMA Chair Randolph Smoak, Jr, M.D. and Physicians Nationwide Participate For the first time, physicians nationwide participated in a conference call Thursday, May 27, 1999, with a member of Congress, Representative Tom Campbell (R-CA), and the Chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, Randolph D. Smoak, Jr., MD, to discuss passing legislation designed to allow doctors to collectively bargain with health plans. The call was part of the AMA's aggressive campaign to help pass the "Quality Health Care Coalition Act of 1999" (H.R. 1304) in the House and to provide momentum for legislative action in the Senate. At 2:30 pm EDT, Dr. Smoak began the call that was open to AMA physicians and other interested parties via a toll-free phone number. Dr. Smoak introduced the sponsor of the anti-trust legislation, Rep. Campbell, who then provided a concise summary of his bill. For a week prior to the May 27 national call, the AMA actively solicited questions about this legislation from doctors across the country. These questions provided the framework for the dialogue between Dr. Smoak and Rep. Campbell. The campaign to pass H.R. 1304 is having considerable success. At this time the bill has gained 97 co-sponsors, an additional 80 since the co-sponsorship campaign began. Eighteen of these co-sponsors are members of the House Judiciary Committee. The bill not only has broad, bi-partisan support from diverse regions of the country, but physicians' grassroots efforts are helping to bring the issue to the forefront in Congress. We expect to go into a June 22 House Judiciary Committee hearing on H.R. 1304 having greatly improved the bill's overall support. The Campbell bill would allow health care professionals to negotiate collectively with health plans regarding terms that affect patient care, thus restoring physicians' ability to advocate for quality care for their patients and strengthening the physician-patient relationship. Make sure your member of Congress is a co-sponsor of this important bill! To view the written transcript of the conference call, please click here. To listen to an audio transcript of the conference call, please click here. The audio clip above is presented in Real Audio format. If you do not have RealPlayer installed on your computer, click on the graphic above to download it for free! Printer-friendly version Published May 27 1999 Return to Antitrust Relief