By Bruce Japsen | The
American Medical Association’s policy-making House of Delegates elected
pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Carmel as president-elect after a rare
three-way battle for the group’s top post.

Carmel, who practices in New York and New Jersey, was elected in a
run-off needed after a vote among three candidates did not produce a
clear-cut winnter. In the run-off, Carmel beat back a challenge from Dr.
Joseph Heyman, an obstetrician from Amesbury, Mass. 

Carmel will serve a year as president-elect and will take over as president in June 2011, at the AMA’s annual meeting.  

The third candidate, who did not get enough votes to qualify for the runoff, was family physician Dr. Edward Langston of Indiana. Vote totals were unavailable Tuesday afternoon. 

The choice of a surgeon and a specialist over two primary-care doctors carries some significance because many AMA members feel that health care reform  favors primary-care doctors over specialists.

As one example, the Medicaid program for the poor will raise reimbursement rates for primary-care doctors and largely leave specialists’ rates unchanged though they will vary by state. In addition, specialists were upset that health care reform did not cap malpractice awards.

In his campaign material, Carmel said “physician opposition to health care reform has been principled and concerned about expanding the role of government in health care.”

Dr. Carmel was unavailable for comment early Tuesday afternoon.