For the first time in more than a decade, members of the media have been denied access to a major military medical conference.
Each year, thousands of doctors and other federal health professionals who work for the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security attend AMSUS Society of Federal Health Professionals’ annual conference about military and federal health care.
This year, however, AMSUS leadership decided to exclude “independent media,” according to AMSUS spokesman Kenneth McClain. He didn’t respond to questions about the definition of “independent media.”
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When Military Times further questioned why media was being denied access, McClain said AMSUS “revised the media pass policy in response to new guidelines affecting sessions and speakers.
“It was at the request of speakers who want to be able to speak without attribution. As a nonprofit, we are not part of the federal government, but to best support our speakers, we will honor their request,” McClain said in an email. Reporters who attempted to register online for the conference last week later received emails that their registrations had been canceled.
The conference may not meet requirements for media access under the Government in the Sunshine Act, which requires meetings of federal agencies be open to the public.
Gunita Singh, staff attorney for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, questioned the decision.
“To prohibit independent media from covering such a consequential convening at a time of such rapid change does a disservice to the goal of keeping the public informed and engaged,” Singh told Military Times.
The annual conference brings together a variety of people in the federal health care sector to share information between agencies and with other professionals about trends, problems, research and initiatives.
The theme of this year’s conference, which takes place in National Harbor, Maryland, through Thursday, is “Flourishing in Health: Improving Experiences for Our Patients and Our Workforce.”
The decision to bar the media from this year’s conference comes amid widespread concerns about military health care during the rollout of new Tricare contracts.
Since Jan. 1, many military families have faced problems accessing health care following the implementation of the new Tricare contracts in the West and East regions, with multiple military families and civilian health providers reporting issues, including difficulty with obtaining referrals for specialty care.
A number of health care providers haven’t been paid by Tricare since Jan. 1, forcing some to take difficult steps such as dropping Tricare patients, taking out loans or even closing their doors, Military Times previously reported.
There is one specific session on Tricare for military health professionals listed in the four-day conference agenda. Others sessions address operational medicine; suicide prevention; obesity in the military; Space Force medical operations; perspectives on clinical quality and safety in the Defense Health Agency; military women’s health research; and other topics related to ongoing research and efforts impacting military health care beneficiaries.
Speakers and presenters include officials, researchers and other experts from the Military Health System; the services’ surgeons general; senior enlisted leaders; Veterans Health Administration; U.S. Public Health Service; and others. A number of health care contractors and vendors also attend.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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