The following message was sent by the AMA to AMA Delegates and Alternates on April 3, 2020:
To: Delegates and Alternate Delegates
Given the current pandemic and the demands upon our physicians and healthcare system, combined with government mandates prohibiting large-scale gatherings in Chicago and continuing restrictions on travel throughout the country, your AMA Board of Trustees has declared that an emergency condition exists per Section 13.1 of our AMA Bylaws and that the planned regular June 2020 Annual Meeting of the House of Delegates is therefore suspended. While this was a difficult decision, your Board does not expect conditions to improve to a point where we could feasibly hold the planned in person meeting in early June and assemble the quorum necessary to conduct business. Many uncertainties remain for all of us as we move into the next phase of the pandemic, which is likely to put continued extraordinary stress on our patients, practices, training programs, and the entire healthcare system.
Your Board will continue to monitor the evolving situation and we anticipate convening a Special Meeting of the House of Delegates–a limited virtual meeting to conduct essential business and transition leadership–when conditions have improved and a quorum can reasonably be achieved. Your Board will work with the management team to design a meeting that will ensure secure voting and protect participants’ rights. Those details will be worked out over the next several weeks and you should anticipate further communication as details become available. It is our goal to keep you as informed, with as much notice, as possible.
Regarding campaigns and elections, pending Board action to call a Special Meeting, active campaigning by candidates—whether announced or not—is not permitted. Our rules disallow active campaigning by or on behalf of all candidates until your Board of Trustees announces its nominations, a step that has not yet been taken. Please note that our AMA Bylaws (Chapter 13) provide that all elections be suspended and that those currently in office remain in their positions until the next meeting of the House of Delegates.
While we trust that you recognize our priorities are to support patients and physicians in this uncertain time, your Board values input from our members and particularly you, the members of our House of Delegates.
Thank you for your efforts on behalf of everyone in the health care profession, our patients, and the health care system. Stay safe.
Bruce A. Scott, MD, Speaker, House of Delegates
Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, Chair AMA Board
