Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, an internist from Buffalo, N.Y., became the 163rd president of the American Medical Association (AMA) in June 2008. Dr. Nielsen was speaker of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD) from 2003 to 2007 and vice speaker for the three preceding years. She was a delegate from New York and previously served two terms on the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs, where she helped formulate policy positions for AMA-HOD debates on the diagnosis and treatment of depression, alcoholism among women, Alzheimer's disease, priorities in clinical preventive services, colorectal cancer screening, asthma control, nicotine content of cigarettes and medication safety.
Among other AMA positions, Dr. Nielsen has served as a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation Board of Directors, the Commission for the Prevention of Youth Violence, and the Task Force on Quality and Patient Safety. She is the AMA representative on many quality initiatives, including the National Quality Forum, the AMA Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance, and the Quality Alliance Steering Committee. She serves on the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine.
Dr. Nielsen was speaker of the Medical Society of the State of New York House of Delegates, and a member of the board of directors of the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company-one of the largest malpractice carriers in the country. She also was president of her county medical society and her hospital's medical staff.
Dr. Nielsen holds a doctorate in microbiology and received her medical degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She is clinical professor of medicine and senior associate dean for medical education at her alma mater, and has served as a trustee of the SUNY system. She was a member of the board of directors of Kaleida Health-a five-hospital system in western New York-and was chief medical officer of a large regional health plan in the Buffalo area.
Dr. Nielsen, who was born and raised in West Virginia, is the mother of five children.
Dr. Nielsen is out of the country attending the World Medical Association meeting this week. Dr. Rohack, AMA president-elect, offered the following comment on the AMA’s commitment to help achieve greater value from our nation’s health-care spending: The need for health reform that provides coverage and high quality, affordable health care for all Americans is clear. Rising health-care costs strain individual, business and government budgets, and projected increases in health spending are not sustainable. The AMA is committed to action to help achieve greater value from our nation’s health-care spending. We want to help bend the spending curve and… Read more
There has been a concerted, united effort to improve the public health infrastructure’s preparedness for pandemic influenza with promising results, but there is more work to do. Improvement efforts to date include pandemic planning exercises and community awareness efforts that identified and addressed gaps in the pandemic plan at both the state and federal levels. Many states have also ramped up their state and city pandemic plans, and have conducted planning drills and exercises. Good information and communication from authoritative sources helps quell panic and direct appropriate actions by the populace in a public health emergency. While… Read more
The AMA supports comparative effectiveness research (CER) as a way to provide physicians with information on which treatment works best. CER should be broadly defined to include a comparison of how to manage a specific health problem, condition, or disease. CER should guide and support clinical decision-making, not dictate it. National CER priorities should address the prevention, management and treatment of preventable disease, which is a major cost driver in today’s health care system. Key areas in need of further study and research include cardiovascular, endocrinology and metabolism disorders (including diabetes) and nutrition (including obesity). We do not have CER… Read more
There’s no doubt we need to reform the health care system and physicians are committed to making that goal a reality this year. Savings, such as those from improving efficiency, could help fund expanded coverage. Dartmouth researchers concluded that hospital readmissions and post-acute care account for much of the variation in care. Delivery system reform that promotes better coordination could help reduce readmission rates, but we must be careful to “do no harm” to the vulnerable patients who are often transferred between hospitals, nursing homes and other post-acute care facilities. For example, simply stopping Medicare payments for all readmissions could… Read more
"Ensuring the long-term fiscal health of Medicare is crucial, and one place to start is with delivery and payment reform, both of which have been discussed as part of health care reform. These reforms should incentivize physicians to better coordinate care and provide prevention and wellness care to help keep Americans healthy and, in the long-run, keep health care costs down. "As policymakers take a hard look at how to keep Medicare fiscally sound in the long-run, we need to ensure that seniors’ access to care is maintained. Efforts to increase the supply of physicians and nurses must intensify so… Read more
By committing $634 billion in health care funding in the budget proposal, President Obama has made clear the importance his administration places on health system reform. All Americans should have health insurance and high quality, affordable health care, regardless of employment or health status. With all Americans covered, patients will have better access to regular and preventive care that can help reduce the cost burden on the entire health care system. Proposed investments in prevention and wellness, quality improvements, and training to address health professional workforce shortages are down-payments on a healthier nation. For the first time, the president’s… Read more
We agree that there is an urgent need for action on health system reform. There is broad recognition that we cannot let this opportunity slip by. We applaud President Obama for heralding his commitment to making health system reform a reality this year. I was honored to be included in Monday’s White House economic summit, and the AMA pledges to work constructively with President Obama and Congress to improve the health care system for all Americans. Health care reform can play a role in jumpstarting our economy by making private health care affordable and providing coverage to all, regardless of… Read more
In this tough economy, expanding Medicaid and COBRA benefits is a necessary stop-gap measure. It's hard enough to be unemployed; we don't want the unemployed to also be uninsured. The investment in the safety net through more support for Medicaid will maintain the program that cares for some of our most vulnerable populations. The current economic downturn has hit Medicaid hard. Rising unemployment has increased the number of people who need Medicaid coverage while falling state revenues have made it increasingly difficult for states to finance their share of Medicaid costs. At least 43 states have faced or… Read more
It’s clear there is no room for slowed momentum on health care reform. The system is broken, and the stakes are high. The American Medical Association sees covering the uninsured as a top priority, especially during the current economic crisis. Unemployment jumped to 7.6 percent in January, the largest one-month job loss since December of 1974, likely adding even more Americans to the ranks of the uninsured and putting even more pressure on state health care programs. Americans rank helping the newly unemployed afford health insurance coverage second behind helping businesses keep or create jobs. Clearly, physicians, employers… Read more
Expanding coverage to millions of uninsured children is a top priority for the AMA, especially during these challenging economic times. Sharp increases in unemployment have likely added more children to the ranks of the uninsured and put increasing pressure on state health care programs. Renewing SCHIP will ensure that millions of American children can see the doctor when they are sick and get routine check ups, hearing and vision screenings, and prescription drugs. The American Medical Association supports adequate funding of SCHIP so that all children who are eligible for the program can be enrolled and to ensure pregnant women… Read more
Market reforms are a critical part of health care reform so that those who want or need to purchase health insurance on the individual market can do so. Insurance market reforms that establish fair ground rules are needed for the market to properly function, so we can protect vulnerable individuals without unduly driving up premiums for the rest of the population. Appropriate health insurance market regulations and federal subsidies based on income and health risk would allow individuals to find affordable coverage in every state. Regulations should also allow market experimentation to find the most attractive combinations of plan benefits,… Read more
The AMA applauds Chairman Baucus for his important contribution today to the ongoing effort to reform the health care system. The forums Chairman Baucus conducted earlier this year with the Finance Committee showed that he and members of the committee are determined to make real progress on health system reform. The AMA looks forward to working with Chairman Baucus, other congressional leaders and the new administration to improve the health care system for the nation’s patients and the physicians who care for them. In addition to advocating to cover the uninsured through our Voice for the Uninsured campaign, the AMA… Read more
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