The medical community is divided on whether they support or oppose President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead HHS — Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-Ga.), according to MedPage Today.
Here are five takeaways:
1. The American Medical Students Association, Physicians for a National Health Program and National Nurses United oppose Mr. Trump's pick.
2. The Americans Medical Association released a statement almost immediately following the news, voicing the association's approval.
Patrice Harris, MD, the AMA's board of trustees' chair, released a statement saying, "Dr. Price has been a leader in the development of health policies to advance patient choice and market-based solutions as well as reduce excessive regulatory burdens that diminish time devoted to patient care and increase costs."
3. Manik Chhabra, MD, Navin Vij, MD, and Jane Zhu, MD, penned a letter, which 5,000 providers spanning the nation signed, saying the AMA's support of Dr. Price goes against physician's pledge to protect and advance patient care.
4. Association of American Physicians and Surgeon Executive Director Jane Orient, MD, stands behind the nomination as she agrees with Dr. Price's views on reproductive rights and believes taxpayers should not pay for another person's birth control and abortion.
She told MedPage Today, "Instead of trying to have the optimal medical care for everybody and [giving] people the right to choose their own medical care and the right to control of their own money, they [Dr. Price's critics] want to take these resources out of the hands of people making decisions for themselves and put it in the hands of bureaucrats who have this whole formula to decide what they think is equitable. And they don't think it's equitable for people to spend their own money for their own medical care."
5. Pamela Cipriano, PhD, RN, president of the American Nurses Association, took issue with Dr. Price's history of opposition to gay marriage and told MedPage Today that the healthcare community needs to work to ensure LGBTQ patients are still receiving care and that HHS doesn't have "an inherent bias."