Members of the American Motility Society met in Iowa City, Iowa, Decem
ber 8 to 10, 1995, to review the issue of gastrointestinal motility te
sts in clinical medicine and to develop critical position papers on ea
ch motility subspecialty. President Sidney Phillips, MD, and Secretary
Robert Summers, MD, developed a conference format that enabled each m
otility subspecialty (e.g., biliary motility) to present a position pa
per on its current relevance in clinical practice.Following critique o
f the position paper by the general assembly, each subspecialty group
revised and further defined its position paper. Subsequently, a consen
sus document was accepted after a final critique by the general assemb
ly. The ASGE Patient Care Committee reviewed this Biliary Motility con
sensus document because it was considering development of guidelines f
or performing biliary motility. The AMS document was considered suffic
iently comprehensive to satisfy the ASGE Committee's criteria as a ref
erence resource and guideline for clinicians. On recommendation by the
ASGE Governing Board, the consensus paper on Biliary Motility develop
ed by the AMS members was submitted to Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.