Overview of Opinion 8.088 of the AMA Code of Medical Ethics on resident physician training.

There are four key elements of health system reform that medical educators must endeavor to implement.

An undercurrent in all debates about allocation of health care resources to the poor is the matter of access to and coverage of health care for immigrants, particularly low-income and undocumented ones.

Well designed and effectively implemented ACOs should help those who deliver primary care become trusted elicitors of informed patient preferences and knowledgeable coordinators of care.

When the tension between solidarity and individualism hardens into entrenched oppositional politics, attempts to widen health care coverage are stymied.

Students’ decision making about ethical dilemmas can be supported via education, faculty development, and structures for reporting professionalism lapses.