Status quo

The 2009 finances of the American Medical Association were quite literally a tale of two reports.

The AMA's recently released Internal Revenue Service Form 990, which details the AMA's not-for-profit activities, shows a $13.7 million loss for 2009, which looks somewhat better in comparison to 2008, when $21.3 million was lost. The AMA annual report, however, released in May covered all of the 163-year-old organization's operations and listed a profit of $16.5 million for 2009, which was up 560% from the $2.5 million it netted in 2008.

Just like the annual report, which is released a few weeks prior to the annual House of Delegates June meeting in Chicago, the 2009 Form 990 reflects lower revenue offset by even lower spending. According to the 990, AMA not-for-profit operations took in almost $207.9 million and spent $221.6 million in 2009. Figures that are about 8.7% and 11% lower respectively than the $227.6 million received and $248.9 million spent in 2008.

The AMA is still the nation's largest physician organization. The AMA's Form 990 doesn't list a member count, but it shows membership dues were down 4.7% to almost $42.4 million from almost $44.5 million. A slightly higher figure is listed under “dues, assessments and similar amounts from members.” For 2009, this figure was almost $43.2 million, or 4% less than 2008's $45 million total.

In April 2009, the AMA announced that it was eliminating 100 open and existing positions. The 2009 Form 990, however, indicates salaries, benefits and other employee compensation rose almost 4.4% to about $120.4 million from about $115.3 million. According to the tax forms, the AMA had 1,106 employees in 2009, compared to 1,156 in 2008.

Michael Maves, the AMA executive vice president and CEO who announced he will step down when his contract expires June 30, was the highest-paid employee. He received a base salary of about $626,000, along with bonuses and incentives of about $230,000 plus other compensation for a total of more than $997,000 in 2009. For 2008, Maves' compensation totaled about $957,000.

Other top compensation packages included Bernard Hengesbaugh, chief operating officer, $830,000; Catherine DeAngelis, editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, $651,000; and Robert Musacchio, senior vice president of publishing and business services, $528,000.