Mercy exec sworn in as AMA president

Mercy Springfield Communities executive Dr. David Barbe was sworn in last night as the 172nd president of the American Medical Association Board of Trustees.

Barbe, Mercy vice president of regional operations who’s also a Mountain Grove physician, is the first Missouri president of the AMA in 80 years, according to a news release. Barbe served 2013-14 as board chairman, a lesser role on the board.

“My experience as a family physician and seeing patients still every day really gives me a perspective on what both patients and physicians need in this day and age of health system reform,” Barbe said in a video posted on Mercy’s Twitter page just before his inauguration. “There’s so much on the plate facing us in health care today. We need to improve the way we educate medical students, because the practice of medicine has changed so much — and I don’t just mean clinically. I mean in terms of population, health and quality management and value-based care. We’re working hard on that.”

A member of the AMA board since 2009, Barbe succeeded Dr. Andrew Gurman, an orthopedic hand surgeon from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.

As chairman of the largest physician association in the nation, Barbe will work to advance the AMA’s strategy to improve health outcomes for Americans with diabetes and hypertension, enhance student education and improve physician satisfaction, among other initiatives, according to the release.