Legislative Priorities

The Greater Albuquerque Medical Association advocates for policies that put patients first, support physicians, and strengthen New Mexico’s health care system. The following priorities reflect the reforms our members believe are most essential to protecting access to care and improving health outcomes across the state.

Restoring Access to Care Through Medical Liability Reform
New Mexico’s medical liability system plays a major role in whether patients can see a doctor when they need one. When the system becomes unpredictable or unbalanced, physicians leave, clinics reduce services, and patients wait longer for care. GAMA supports reforms that keep patients protected while ensuring physicians can continue practicing in New Mexico.

Modernizing Punitive Damages to Protect Patients and Preserve Access to Care
Punitive damages should hold those who engage in truly egregious misconduct accountable and should not discourage good physicians from providing care. GAMA supports reforming the rules around punitive damages, so they are fair, consistent, and focused on egregious misconduct.

These reforms would:

• Limit punitive damages to cases involving intentional, malicious, or fraudulent conduct
• Establish reasonable and evidence-based caps
• Require a stronger level of proof before punitive claims can proceed
• Prevent costly and intrusive discovery before liability is established
• Require independent panel review to confirm if punitive allegations have factual basis
• Ensure these protections apply uniformly to all physicians and health care providers regardless of insurance status.

By modernizing punitive damages, New Mexico can preserve accountability while safeguarding patient access to care—especially in rural and high-need communities where physician shortages are already a serious concern.

Defining a Single Malpractice Event Clearly and Fairly
Patients deserve full compensation when something goes wrong, but a single incident should not be counted as multiple claims simply because several providers were involved. GAMA supports clear, fair rules that treat one event as one claim. This prevents unnecessary cost increases and helps stabilize liability insurance so clinics can stay open and fully staffed.

Ensuring Medical Damages Reflect Real Medical Costs
Patients should be compensated for the true cost of their care, not inflated “sticker prices” that no one actually pays. GAMA supports aligning damage awards with real-world medical costs. This promotes fairness, lowers systems-wide costs, and helps keep premiums affordable so physicians can continue practicing in New Mexico.

Protecting Injured Patients Through Reliable, Ongoing Support for Future Medical Care
Patients with long-term medical needs deserve support that lasts. GAMA supports paying future medical expenses as they occur, ensuring care remains available throughout a patient’s life. This protects patients from running out of funds too early and strengthens the Patient Compensation Fund so it can serve families for generations to come.

Keeping Hospitals and Their Care Teams in the Patient Compensation Fund
Hospitals and the physicians who practice within them are essential to New Mexico’s health care system. GAMA supports allowing them to continue participating in the Patient Compensation Fund, which provides stability during large medical claims. Keeping hospitals in the fund helps control costs, protects patient access to essential services, and supports physician recruitment.

Additional Priorities That Strengthen New Mexico’s Health Care Ecosystem
In addition to medical liability reform, GAMA supports several other policy initiatives that help build a healthier, more stable environment for patients and the physicians who care for them. These positions focus on improving access to care, ensuring patient safety, and creating the conditions necessary for physicians to practice effectively in New Mexico’s diverse communities.

Ensuring Scope of Practice Decisions Prioritize Patient Safety, Training, and High Standards of Care
Patients deserve care led by professionals with the training and expertise appropriate to the complexity of their medical needs. GAMA is committed to ensuring that all patients receive care under the leadership of qualified physicians.

GAMA supports a clear, evidence-based process for evaluating scope of practice proposals to ensure they enhance, rather than compromise, patient safety. This includes ensuring proposed changes are reviewed for patient safety, consistency with medical standards, and appropriate education and oversight.

Inappropriate or unsupported expansions of non-physician scope of practice can expose patients to increased risk and lead to fragmented or inconsistent care. By opposing expansions that exceed appropriate training or remove necessary physician oversight, GAMA seeks to maintain the highest standards of medical care in New Mexico. This approach puts patient safety first, strengthens team-based care, and ensures all New Mexicans receive high-quality, reliable medical treatment.

Improving Medicaid Reimbursement to Expand Access and Reduce Inequities
Medicaid covers nearly half of New Mexicans, yet reimbursement often falls short of the cost of providing care. When Medicaid payments are too low, fewer physicians can participate, especially in rural and underserved communities. GAMA supports Medicaid reimbursement rates that support a sustainable system; allowing more patients to get timely, high-quality care close to home.

Joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC)
New Mexico faces a significant shortage of physicians. Joining the IMLC would create an easier, trusted pathway for qualified doctors from other states to practice here. This would expand access to specialists, strengthen telehealth options, and make New Mexico more competitive in recruiting and retaining physicians.

Permanently Exempting Medical Services From Gross Receipts Tax
GAMA supports permanently removing the Gross Receipts Tax from medical services. Keeping care tax-free makes it easier for medical practices to stay open, lowers administrative costs, and helps attract new doctors to New Mexico. This reform directly supports patient access, especially in communities where losing even one practice could mean losing entire services.

Strengthening Physician Training and Retention Through Support for Medical Education
A strong health care system depends on a reliable pipeline of physicians. Yet New Mexico faces persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining medical educators, preceptors, and resident physicians. GAMA supports policies that strengthen medical education and expand training opportunities throughout New Mexico.

This includes improving compensation for faculty and preceptors and creating pathways for resident physicians to complete short-term rotations in community hospitals and clinics throughout New Mexico. These rotations give communities the opportunity to build relationships with residents early in their careers and increase the likelihood that these highly trained physicians will choose to practice in New Mexico.

GAMA also supports competitive resident, preceptor, and faculty compensation and robust loan-repayment programs that reduce financial barriers for those who commit to serving New Mexico communities. Investing in medical education is investing in patient care. By broadening training opportunities and supporting the physicians who teach, New Mexico can better recruit, develop, and retain the workforce needed to ensure high-quality, reliable care statewide.

Our Commitment
GAMA is committed to advancing policies that protect patients, preserve the physician workforce, and ensure every New Mexican has access to high-quality, reliable medical care.