The president received big applause from the doctors assembled from “Red States, Blue States” and a number of different professional physicians’ organizations, including the American Medical Association. The AMA has endorsed the House version of the healthcare reform bill that does away with the Medicare payment formula doctors have long opposed. The Senate Finance Committee bill stops short of calling for the reimbursement system to be scrapped. Obama also boasted of the directive he issued to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to explore ways to promote patient safety while at the same time encouraging new methods of limiting medical malpractice lawsuits, an initiative popular with doctors.

The doctors summoned to the White House to lend support to healthcare reform don’t accurately represent physicians’ views, one Republican doctor-turned-lawmaker said Monday. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) and a former orthopedic surgeon, argued that the 150 doctors providing a backdrop for President Barack Obama’s Rose Garden event this morning were “hand picked” by the White House.

The president’s political arm, Organizing for America (OFA), is helping with the effort. Shortly after Mr. Obama finished speaking, the organization sent out an e-mail to reporters highlighting events that doctors had been hosting around the country.