The AAPS Texas Chapter completed a successful Captiol Day on March 1!

A big thank you to the physicians who volunteered their day to walk the halls of the Texas Capitol.  We were proud to support SB 1148, a bill introduced by Senator Dawn Buckingham, MD to prohibit MOC requirements for licensure, hospital staff privileges, and insurance participation. In addition to SB 1148, Captiol Day participants asked legislators to support HB 1482 by Rep. Matt Shaheen to allow in office dispensing of prescriptions.

Dear Texas AAPS members,

We are excited to announce TxAAPS Capitol Day March 1, 2017 in Austin!

Click here for locations and schedule.

It will be a great opportunity for you and fellow AAPS colleagues to meet with your representatives in both houses of the state legislature and share your views on health policy and how it affects your ability to practice medicine.

Now more than ever, it is important that you develop a relationship with your own representatives as well as those in nearby districts.  Your patient population may come from other districts, so your sphere of influence is broad.

We will provide more details as the time nears but need to start collecting a count of who is available.

Please click here to RSVP to save a spot on March 1 at this important event.

Do you know what legislative districts you’re in?  If not you can look that information up here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/.Our top priority in Austin this year is MOC reform. We will also strongly support legislation to allow in-office dispense of prescription drugs by physicians. Please share with us your wish list for action to protect physicians and patients.

Plan ahead and make sure March 1 is available for you to be in Austin.  We look forward to seeing you there!

All for the Patient,

Sheila Page, DO
President, TxAAPS
president@texasaaps.org

The Texas Chapter of AAPS held its first official meeting May 21.  The chapter elected officers and board members and approved the chapter’s bylaws.

Stay-tuned for more details!

Dr. Buckingham, endorsed by AAPS, succeeded in making the runoff for the senate race in Texas SD24! The primary runoff date is May 24, and early voting started Monday, May 16.

Texas needs a strong, conservative physician in the Senate who will be willing to stand up against the status quo in the face of encroaching government control of the practice of medicine. She is prepared to tackle head-on the problems faced by private physicians and work to restore the integrity of the patient-physician relationship.

Dr. Buckingham has the experience necessary to be able to find solutions and oppose further entrenchment of third parties in medicine. She will fight for protection of vulnerable lives and to preserve the integrity of the patient-physician relationship.

Dawn Buckingham will be a much-needed voice for private physicians in the Texas Senate.

To learn more about Dr. Buckingham, click here.

To contribute to her campaign, click here.

The Texas chapter of AAPS will conduct a formal organizational meeting for the purpose of approving bylaws and electing officers. This meeting will be held Saturday, May 21, the morning following the AAPS Thrive, Not Just Survive workshop.

Why is this important? 

1.  Our members can make their voices heard in a more effective way at the state level when we have an organized leadership structure.
2.  Closer communication with other like-minded physicians will develop a collective base of information that will be a valuable resource for initiating policy change.
3. Resolutions and model legislation may be brought to a house-of-delegates meeting.  Decisions made by the representative physicians will be a true reflection of the voice of private physicians.
4. Advocacy at the local level will be more effective. It is very important that good relationships are developed so that the positions of AAPS on important issues will be taken into consideration. Some of them never hear from independent physicians.
5. We are stronger when we listen to and learn from each other. A unified position on issues in medicine is influential to leaders whose decision impact the practice of medicine.
6. Our patients need us to represent them as well—many patients feel abandoned by their doctors, and there is a growing lack of trust in the medical profession by the public.

Please join us on May 21! We need the contributions of every member for the success of this effort. Even if you are not interested in being an officer, we need your input and support.

Sincerely,
Sheila Page, DO
Chapter Coordination Team

WHEN:

Saturday, May 21, 2016
9am to Noon

WHERE:

DFW Marriott
8440 Freeport Pkwy
Irving, TX 75063

COST:

NO CHARGE

RSVP:

CLICK HERE or email us at aaps@aapsonline.org

Questions?

Call AAPS Business Manager Jeremy Snavely at 520-270-0761 or email aaps@aapsonline.org

Hotel Rooms:

Group rate of $82/night. Call Marriott at 800-228-9290, mention Group Code AAP and Rate Code AAPA. Group Rate Cutoff Date: 4/26.

Workshop Info:

Friday May 20, AAPS is holding a workshop, at the same hotel, on third-party-free practice.  Details at:aapsonline.org/dfw

Primary election season is upon the great state of Texas and a few of your physician colleagues have helped us put together a guide to some of the important races with particularly outstanding candidates.

Please take a few moments to review the following update.  This is not a comprehensive list and if you are aware of a race or candidate we should take a look at, please don’t hesitate to reply to this email to let us know.

Update on Texas Primary Races

US Congressional District 19 has 9 candidates.  Out of these, Dr. Donald May and Jason Corley stand out as principled conservatives. They are both in support of protecting patients and private practices.

Dr. Donald May has been an outspoken conservative for many years.  He is a highly accomplished surgeon who will defend private practices and the integrity of patient care.  He will be a strong advocate for the practice of medicine and for the protection of the patient.  http://mayfortexas.com/about-dr-may/
Continue reading →

Dear Colleagues,

We are nearing the end of the Texas legislative session, and some of the bills we have followed have met their end. Some have potential, good or bad, and we will be diligent to watch for movement to the best of our ability.

HB661, the House version of the Interstate Medical Licensing Compact, is officially dead, but there is a possibility for SB190, the identical Senate companion, to be brought up.

SB1243, the drug donation bill, passed the Senate 31-0, but is sitting in the House Public Health Committee, chaired by Rep Myra Crownover. We have to keep asking them to bring it up for a committee hearing.

SB1813 would have protected physicians by allowing them to know their accusers (especially competitors) before the medical board. It was essentially gutted by amendments, rendering it useless. Sen Campbell opposed the amendments, but they were ultimately accepted and the bill passed.

HB3804 got a favorable hearing, support from TOMA and TMA in addition to AAPS, but was not brought up for a house vote in time for the deadline, so is officially dead. It was the Calendars committee that killed it. We will bring this back because it is extremely important as a protection for patients and doctors against intrusion by hospital administration into the practice of medicine. Many thanks to Dr. Roughneen, who testified for the bill!

SB538 could still come up for a house vote. It is the infectious disease control bill that has a lot of due process issues and is poorly constructed to address a true emergency. It grants broad powers to the Governor and peace officers.

HB179, sponsored by Rep Zedler, was another bill designed to protect physicians from vague and non-specific accusations by the medical board. It was sent to Locals and Consent and has not been scheduled for a vote.

HB2498 is a bill that already passed the House and will go to the Senate. It creates an interstate commission governing EMS and has some similarities to the physician licensing bill except that it also involves the certification of military personnel and addresses the transport of patients across state lines. It is purported to be limited to certifying EMS for hospitals on state borders but the bill itself includes references to statewide emergencies, which would be a very different situation.

HB2351 was a bill that would have allowed hospitals to write their own conflict of interest policy. It did not make it to the floor for a vote. Thank you to Andy Schlafly for his testimony against that bill!

HB2711 is also dead. It would have given EMT workers the power to involuntarily commit people to mental health facilities.

If I omitted anything, please reply to this email and let us know so I can add it to the bills we are watching. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Sheila Page, DO

SB 1813, which would end confidential complaints against physicians, passed by an overwhelming majority in the Texas Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Monday.  AAPS’s General Counsel personally testified in favor of this bill last week in Austin.  The Senate committee passed this good bill despite the unjustified opposition by the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Hospital Association.  Thank you for your help in passing this good bill out of committee, and congratulations!

Meanwhile, we need your help to stop HB 2351, which is a handout to the hospital industry to make end-of-life decisions contrary to the recommendations of independent physicians, and contrary to the wishes of patients and their families.  In a classic example of allowing the fox to guard the henhouse, HB 2351 authorizes hospitals to write their own conflict-of-interest policies for themselves.

HB 2351 is scheduled for a vote by the full House on Thursday, so immediate calls to Texas House members are needed now!  Click here if you already know your House member’s name and here if you need to look it up.

Why would the legislature grant power to hospital administrators, who routinely grab millions of dollars in compensation for themselves from “nonprofit” hospitals, to decide for themselves what is ethical and what is not?  HB 2351 is a nightmare for the rights of patients and independent physicians.

HB 2351 gives no power to the patients.  Instead, HB 2351 has this provision that pretends to provide protection, when in fact it does the opposite by telling hospitals to:

prohibit consideration of a patient ’s permanent physical or mental disability during a review under that section unless the disability is relevant in determining whether a medical or surgical intervention is medically appropriate.

In other words, HB 2351 says that hospitals should not consider a physical or mental disability in deciding to end a patient’s life, unless the hospital wants to end someone’s life based on a perceived physical or mental disability.  Texas Right to Life joins AAPS in opposing this anti-patient bill.  AAPS’s motto has long been, “all for the patient.”

Please contact your legislator in the Texas House to urge him to vote “no” on HB 2351.  This is a bad bill that empowers hospitals to act unethically, and authorizes them to discriminate against disabled patients.  This bill would be a terrible setback to the practice of private, ethical medicine.

SB 1813 would provide basic rights to physicians with respect to the medical board.  This good legislation would require the medical board to disclose to a physician a copy of the complaint against him, and the identity of experts used against him.  The right to confront one’s accuser is an essential part of fairness in a civilized society.  This would deter bad faith complaints against physicians.

AAPS’s General Counsel, Andy Schlafly, testified in favor this bill in Austin on Wednesday.  An earlier version of this bill passed by 147-0 in the Texas House a few years ago.  No one should have to defend against accusations made by an undisclosed nemesis who hides behind a veil of confidentiality.  Numerous Texas physicians have been victimized by confidential complaints filed against them, without being able to find out who the accuser was.

Yet there was the Texas Medical Association (TMA) at the hearing, testifying against this basic protection for physicians.  The TMA pretends to represent physicians, yet it testified against this right for physicians before the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Wednesday.

The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution grants to murderers the right to confront their accusers, but some think that physicians cannot be trusted with that basic right.  Dentists receive a copy of any complaints filed with the dental board against them.  But hospitals want to deny this right to physicians.  So does a nursing group.  And the TMA testified on their side, rather than on the side of the rights of physicians, in opposing SB 1813 and trying to deny that basic right to you.

Is it any surprise that private medicine is declining, when medical societies like the TMA testify against basic rights for physicians?  Fortunately, AAPS stood up for your rights by testifying in support of you.  We have stood up for private medicine for more than 70 years, and will continue to defend private medicine for another 70 years – with your support.  

Please call Senator Charles Schwertner, M.D., who is Chairman of the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, and let him know how much you support this bill.  Please also call and thank Vice Chairman Lois Kolkhorst for sponsoring SB 1813 to establish these basic rights for physicians.

Their contact information is:
Chairman Schwertner – 512-463-0105; Vice Chairman Kolkhorst – 512-463-0118

Re: Support for HB 3804

To: Representative Byron Cook
Chair, Texas House State Affairs Committee

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the committee,

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons supports HB 3804 protecting the exercise of independent medical judgement by physicians in providing care to patients.

Our association increasingly hears from physicians who have been inappropriately disciplined by hospitals when advocating for their patients instead of following directives from hospital administrators.

For example, physicians who refer patients to certain specialists based on years of experience and trust in that specialist’s skills are told to discontinue those referrals and to refer only to physicians employed by the hospital. Physicians who choose instead to act in the best interest of their patients are at risk for being terminated from hospital employment or otherwise disciplined.

The protections provided by HB 3804 are urgently needed due to the growth of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), designed to cut health care spending, and the combining of hospitals and insurance companies to form Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPOs) that limit choice to a small panel of physicians.

We also encourage the committee to consider extending the legislation’s protections to non-employed physicians on a hospital’s medical staff in addition to employed physicians.

Ultimately, HB 3804 protects patients and we respectfully ask the committee to vote to recommend adoption of HB 3804.

Sincerely,

Jane Orient, MD
AAPS Executive Director