Dear Texas AAPS members and friends,

Thank you for your dedication to patient-centered medicine in the Lone Star State.  We need to ask for your help as we prepare for meetings to pursue additional necessary changes at the Texas Medical Board.

While progress has been made, too often we hear about physicians who are subjected to costly investigations that are not substantive, interfering with their focus on patient care.  In addition, some doctors who raise concerns about patient care in hospital settings become the target of retaliatory complaints to the board.

AAPS continues its work to achieve meaningful due process in board investigations.  We emphasize that the board’s actions should be consistently directed at protecting patients from harm, not pursuing administrative errors to justify collecting a fine.  These practices consume physician resources that would otherwise be devoted to patient care, and they inflict damage on the morale of the profession.

Here’s how you can help!:

1) We need to hear your story if you’ve been subject to an investigation by the Texas Medical Board that you feel was inappropriately handled, or which involved an unnecessary investigation into an administrative issue.  We would also like to hear from you if the original complaint was unrelated to the discipline imposed.  If your interaction with the board was positive or neutral, we would appreciate hearing that feedback as well.

2) If you have suggestions for additional legislative reforms to the Texas Medical Board, please let us know what they are.

Please respond as soon as possible by replying to this email or by emailing president@texasaaps.org.

Thank you!
TxAAPS

P.S. On a related note, last month AAPS filed a brief in support of Dr. Robert Van Boven’s pursuit of justice against hospital administrators who retaliated after he spoke out to protect patient safety.

The AAPS motion to file reads in part:

AAPS has a strong interest in this case because the central issues concern the ability of physicians to act in the interests of patients, without fear of retaliation by a hospital against them. Judicial reviewability of retaliatory action, as presented in this case, potentially affects virtually every hospital in Texas, virtually every physician at every hospital, and nearly every one of their patients. Movant AAPS therefore has a direct and vital interest in the issues presented in this lawsuit before this Court, based on the harmful effect on the practice of medicine and the quality of patient care as caused by hospital retaliatory actions.

Read Motion to File, Proposed Order, and Brief: http://aapsonline.org/judicial/aaps-amicus-van-boven-7-25-2018.pdf

For more background on the retaliation against Dr. Van Boven: https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-04-20/dr-robert-van-boven-the-whistleblower/