Dear Texas AAPS members,
Thank you to all who attended our chapter meeting in San Antonio! We had a great turnout and the speakers were very informative.
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Waldman—Director of the Center for Health Care Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation—gave a superb presentation about Medicaid reform. His presentation can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wihtf2AnaM4.
In addition, his new ebook outlining his solutions for reform was just released at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CSK1MMK
Other presentations from our recent meeting can be found here:
http://www.texasaaps.org/category/video/
Ft. Worth physician, Dr. Kevin Wacasey—who spoke on “Busting the Big Myth of Health Care”—has two books exposing the harmful games health insurers play and strategies for overcoming their tactics: http://healthcareonomics.com/books/
Congratulations to the new board members!
The result of our election of officers and board members is listed below:
Officers:
- President, Sheila Page, DO
- President-elect, John Dunn, MD
- Secretary, Steve Croft, MD
- Treasurer, Gil Robinson, MD
Board of Directors:
- Ray Page, DO, PhD
- Joseph Lukaska, MD
- Darren Meyer, MD
- Peter Curka, DO
- Ewa Stewart, MD
- Mary Morrow, MD
In other news:
The Texas Medical Board Sunset Advisory Commission met in May and voted May 24th on the recommendations for changes to the Texas Medical Board. TXAAPS was represented by the chapter president, Sheila Page, DO, who submitted testimony and offered recommendations for changes that would help the way the TMB functions. It was very encouraging to see that the Commission embraced some of our recommendations.
Background on the Sunset Commission. In 1977, Texas established the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission to periodically review state agencies in order to make recommendations as to their reform or termination. Since then most states have followed suit by establishing their own programs for sunset review of their state agencies. Here is a good overview of state sunset commissions. Florida, California, Minnesota, New Mexico, and other states have since established sunset commissions. Oregon refused to establish mandatory sunset review, as reported here.
The Sunset Commission’s Recommendations:
The full list of the Sunset Commission’s recommendations is posted on its website here.
Among the recommendations adopted by the Texas Sunset Commission, the Commission agreed with us that adoption of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact is not in the best interest of the patients, their physicians, and the state. Instead, the TMB will be asked to adopt an expedited licensing process for qualified out-of-state physicians. As part of this modification and as a management action, the Commission directed the Texas Medical Board to review its current licensing practices for out-of-state physicians and identify any necessary changes to statute or rules that are required to implement a new expedited process.
The Sunset Commission also agreed with us about requiring the TMB to disclose its expert reviews, requiring that they “share with the license holder who is the subject of the allegation a complete copy of each preliminary written report produced by each expert physician reviewer for the license holder’s case, not just the final report currently required by law.”
Another recommendation by the Commission was to take steps to limit the TMB’s posting of disparaging information about physicians, and to establish a central repository for complaints against the TMB itself, of which there are many.
The right to a Trial de Novo, for which TXAAPS advocated, was not included in the report, but was supported and recommended by Sen Bob Hall. It is very encouraging to have a Senator champion this cause, because the need for constitutional protection has been dismissed for many years. Trial de Novogives the opportunity for a physician who wants to challenge a SOAH ruling to do so and request a trial by jury with an independent judge. This will give the opportunity for a fresh look at the evidence and constitutional due process rights. This is the only opportunity for the physician to have due process rights observed during an investigation.
As with many victories, we were not alone in our efforts. There were other people who testified in support of physicians and the pressing need for due process rights in the function of the agency. A patient advocacy group, Texas Right to Know, led by Sheila Hemphill, made many recommendations and supported ours. She did a tremendous amount of work at the Capitol talking to the members of the Commission about the need for improvements to the medical board’s processes.
TMA’s Dr. Carlos Cardenas was also present to testify. Although TMA had previously promoted the Interstate Compact, they were supportive of an expedited licensing process as well.
The fight is by no means over. We will keep you updated as the process moves forward in the 2019 legislative session.
All for the Patient,
Your Texas Chapter