12.18.23 OMA Board Book

Why is the OMA making these membership changes? One of the core strategic objectives of the OMA is to serve in advocacy roles on behalf of our patients. To represent our patients’ voices and to best drive legislative, policy, and practice changes, the seat held by the OMA at the American Medical Association’s (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD) is critical to maintain. In 2013, the AMA recognized obesity as a disease and as such, the AMA is actively engaged in combatting the obesity epidemic in partnership with the OMA and other member organizations such as the ASMBS and others. To that end, the OMA’s leadership at the AMA is critical to realize the OMA’s key advocacy objectives. The rules of the AMA’s HOD explicitly state: 1. The organization (association) must meet one of the following criteria: • At least 100 AMA members and twenty percent (20%) of its physician members who are eligible for AMA membership are members of the AMA; or • Have been represented in the House of Delegates at the 1990 Annual Meeting and that twenty percent (20%) of its physician members who are eligible for AMA membership are members of the AMA. • 1,000 or more AMA members; The change in OMA’s Bylaws relative to its membership categories is critical to maintain to ensure the continued representation of the OMA in the AMA’s HOD as enumerated above. Hear more from Dr. Ethan Lazarus, the OMA’s HOD Representative: (insert a video clip from Dr. Lazarus that speaks to the criticality of retaining our HOD seat as part of this communication plan) What efforts is the OMA taking to ensure that the physician members of the OMA are also members of the AMA? The OMA is currently offering an OMA membership discount for physician members who are also members of the AMA. Further, the OMA publishes information on the importance of AMA membership in its newsletters and other collateral. 2. Physicians should comprise the majority of the voting membership of the organization.

If I am a non-physician (i.e. NP/PA) member of the OMA and I want to switch my membership option to “voting” once the new bylaws take effect, when am I allowed to do this?

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