AMA -- American Medical Association
American Medical Association (https://www.ama-assn.org/)
Readability:
Score: 36 – Good; Minor Tweaks Only
Breakdown:
| Criteria | Score | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading Level | 4 (Good) | Most content is readable for an 8th–10th grade audience, though a few policy/finance sections are slightly more complex. | |
| Sentence Length | 5 (Excellent) | Sentences are short (10–15 words average), especially in calls to action and headlines. | |
| Paragraph Density | 5 (Excellent) | Paragraphs are brief (often 1–3 sentences) and broken by CTAs, images, or links. | |
| Vocabulary | 4 (Good) | Clear everyday vocabulary; terms like “prior auth” assume some knowledge but otherwise simple. | |
| Jargon Usage | 4 (Good) | Minor jargon ("CPT Codes," "House of Delegates") appears but is contextually obvious; minimal barrier to understanding. | |
| Sentence Structure | 5 (Excellent) | Active, clear voice dominates throughout the site. | |
| Scannability | 5 (Excellent) | Excellent: heavy use of headings, bulleted lists, CTA buttons, and section breaks. | |
| CTA Clarity | 4 (Excellent) | Clear but has some generic actions. ("Contact Your Member of Congress," "Learn more," "Join Today"). |
Summary: The AMA's website exhibits a professional tone with clear calls to action and well-structured content. While the vocabulary is generally accessible, occasional medical jargon could be further simplified or defined to enhance understanding for a broader audience.
Estimated Visitors: Approximately 847,000 site users, with over 952,000 site visits reported in a recent period. American Medical Association
Estimated Membership Numbers: As of December 2023, the AMA reported 282,952 members, including physicians and medical students.
Main Site vs. Journal Site
Integration of Experience (X-Axis)
Rationale: The AMA's main site (ama-assn.org) and the JAMA Network (jamanetwork.com) operate on separate domains with distinct branding and navigation structures. Minimal links between the two—such as the AMA site directing users to the JAMA Network for publications—the user experience is disjointed. Users must navigate between different interfaces, and there is no unified account system or integrated search functionality across both platforms. This separation indicates a loosely connected integration of experience.
- No logo Sharing
- No Design Sharing
- Barely Spells out JAMA
- Science Only
Content Overlap (Y-Axis)
Rationale: The content between the AMA main site and the JAMA Network is largely distinct. The AMA site focuses on advocacy, medical education, and professional resources, while the JAMA Network is dedicated to publishing peer-reviewed medical research. Although both platforms serve medical professionals and are under the AMA umbrella, their content offerings do not significantly overlap, indicating a low content overlap.
- Links to the Journal
- But Content is More business and "Policy" oriented and all "Science" is reserved for the Journal Site and it is true vice versa.
Membership Experience
Rationale: The AMA offers certain resources, such as CME options and articles, to non-members, but full access to benefits like the JAMA Network and specific discounts requires membership. The onboarding process is streamlined, with clear pathways for different user groups (e.g., physicians, residents, students) to understand and access membership benefits.American Medical Association
- Awesome benefit for Car Discounts :-)
Brand Personality
Rationale: The AMA's content is tailored to a wide range of medical professionals, including students, residents, and practicing physicians, indicating a broadly inclusive approach. The tone remains professional yet approachable, aiming to engage users effectively without excessive formality.PMC
Strategic Emphasis on Organizational Initiatives
Radial Chart
- Membership & Networking Opportunities: ★★★★☆
- Donations & Philanthropy: ★☆☆☆☆
- Events: ★★★★☆
- Scientific Publications / Latest Science: ★★★☆☆
- Practice Support Resources: ★★★★★
- Patient-Facing Tools & Content: ★☆☆☆☆
- Education: ★★★★☆
Rationale:
- Member Networking Opportunities: The AMA provides upfront member engagement and ask but unable to determine if there is a platforms for members to connect, but there is room for enhancing interactive networking features.
- Donations & Philanthropy: While the AMA engages in philanthropic activities the pages are buried on the main site.
- Events: The organization annual meetings is located on the homepage but the other events that indicating a strong commitment to member engagement through events is hidden with in the long search bar. It is possible that behind membership walls this become more prominent or easier to find.
- Scientific Publications / Latest Science: With access to the JAMA Network and other publications, the AMA offers substantial scientific resources, but on the main site it is reserved to news elements about public health, practice, advocacy and the practice reserving the latest science to live only on Jama.
- Practice Support Resources: Resources are available articles are written to support medical practice management and an entire segment craft to multiple facets of practice support.
- Patient-Facing Tools & Content: The site primarily targets medical professionals, with limited content directly aimed at patients. this type of content is practically no where on the site.
- Education: Educational resources, including CME opportunities and the AMA Ed Hub, are robust and well-integrated into the site.
Additional Notes
Art Direction
AMA clearly has a design system library in place. The collection of UI pattern feels pretty high so there is a certain about of consistency degradation not because they aren't following the rules but because they have too many to really show a visual pattern. They have an extensive collection of patterns makes the site feel a little clumsy and overwhelming high usage of images that hold content and text utilizing font treatments that are not matching.
UX Warning
They collapse away their main NAV into a burger menu even on desktop when you are not on the homepage this is an interesting choice. I find it slightly frustrating because I am trying to move around the site as much. Maybe it isn't as much of an issue when users are being directed by Google and cross discovery isn't as important. It does reduce the overall visual noise which is pretty high on their site.