The American Medical Association's House of Delegates, meeting during the AMA's 19th Clinical Convention Nov 28 to Dec 1 in Philadelphia, issued policy statements on "usual and customary" fees and "prevailing" fees, sent statements on abortion and sterilization to the Board of Trustees for further study, and supported a $25-per-year increase in AMA dues which, if approved by the House next June, would go into effect in 1967.
The meeting, which drew an attendance of 9,423, including 4,619 physicians, also was highlighted by an address by AMA President James Z. Appel, MD, who described medicine's efforts to "guide in the best possible direction the actions that government agencies are now taking to activate existing law (PL 89-97)."
He reviewed activities and responsibilities of the AMA's six technical advisory committees under the medicare law, and commented that, "Their suggestions have been received favorably in most instances, and we are hopeful that