On April 20, 1905 the American Medical Association (AMA) held their first meeting of their newly established Council on Medical Education, The purpose to reform and standardise medical education across the US. The council brought “together the various examining and licensing powers of the states and territories, to secure a mutual interchange of ideas and counsel.” Noting that “uniformity in standards and requirements” across all states “should be held under the auspices of the American Medical Association.” [1]
They held 3 conferences, 1905, 1906, 1907 , and May 1908, but could not come to agreement.
By November 1908 the Carnegie Foundation took over the work of the medical education council, of which Abraham Flexner took control and in 1910 produced the Flexner Report [PDF], which served as the roadmap to completely take over medical schools, raise the cost of entry and in time promote patentable chemical solutions – all in the name of “standardizing” education. This began the incremental demise of the successful and popular Homeopathic hospitals.
In 1905 the AMA also establishes the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry “primarily for the purpose of gathering and disseminating such information as will protect the medical profession in the prescribing of proprietary medicinal articles.” [2]
The Council examines the articles on the market as to their compliance with their “definite rules designed to prevent fraud, undesirable secrecy and the abuses which arise from advertising directly or indirectly to the laity.” If articles are determined to conform to their rules the products are accepted, and “their essential features are described in the annual publication of the Council called New and Nonofficial Remedies (N.N.R.). Each year the council publish the annual N.N.R.’s which they accept or reject, to aid physicians and manufacturers in deciding which medicinal substances conform to the AMA rules. [3, 4, 5, 6]