Heather McComas

Heather McComas has been Director of the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) Administrative Simplification Initiatives division since January 2014. In her role at the AMA, Heather focuses on reducing practice burdens such as prior authorization so that physicians can concentrate on what matters most—patient care. She actively participates in standards development organizations, including the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), X12, and HL7. She serves as Co-chair of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange’s (WEDI’s) Prior Authorization Subworkgroup and is a member of the CAQH Index Advisory Council. Heather has testified numerous times before the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) on topics related to physician practice burdens, administrative simplification, and electronic transactions.

As Director of the AMA’s Administrative Simplification Initiatives division, Heather also leads a team who, over the past several years, has conducted extensive national surveys to better understand physicians’ perspectives on prior authorization’s workforce burden and impact on patient care. In 2020, Heather was invited by the HITAC’s Intersection of Clinical and Administrative Data Task Force to present on the AMA’s latest research and findings. Heather also leads the AMA’s efforts in convening representatives from state medical associations and national medical specialty societies to consider a broad spectrum of administrative issues, helping provide a unified voice for the physician community.

Prior to joining the AMA, Heather worked at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and in the pharmaceutical industry in medical information and publishing roles.

She is a pharmacist by training and received a PharmD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.