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roid condition, commonly referred to as hypothyroidism, were completely erroneous and unsubstantiated, and are readily re- futed by a large body of solid scientific evidence.” To read the entire letter, log on to http://healthfully.org/ mednews/id16.html. Dr. Hotze also was the subject of a lengthy article in the Houston Press that same year. The article is at www.houston press.com/2005-07-21/news/doctor-nice/. A check of disciplinary actions on the TMB website shows


that the board has taken no actions against Dr. Hotze. In ad- dition, the TMB staff says the board has not acted against him. Dr. Hotze testified before the Senate Health and Human Ser- vices Interim Committee in May 2010 that four anonymous complaints had been filed against him, three of which involved advertising and one which was filed by another physician. In a membership recruitment letter mailed during the ses-


sion, AAPS accused TMA of being the “biggest obstacle” to TMB reform and said the TMA website “as much as announces its support of TMB against physicians.” “There is no medical organiza- tion that is more responsive to its members and is more grassroots than the Texas Medical Associa- tion, and to cast us in this kind of light is just patently ridiculous,” Dr. Bailey told Texas Medicine after reading the letter and some of the unfounded attacks by AAPS and Dr. Hotze.


And in a letter to TMA mem-


bers responding to AAPS’s allega- tions, Dr. Bailey asserted that phy- sicians who received AAPS solicita- tion had been “badly, intentionally misinformed.” She said the more radical House bill that AAPS sup- ported (House Bill 1013 by Rep. Fred Brown [R-College Station]) “is not about making the TMB dis- cipline process fairer for the aver- age physician.” The TMA-backed bills spon-


sored by Senator Nelson, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, largely came out of a study her committee con- ducted between the 2009 and 2011 sessions of the legislature.


“We found a consensus on ways to make the process fairer to physi- cians without compromising pub- lic safety,” she said. Senate Bill 190 was a critical piece of Senator Nelson’s TMB re- form package, but critics of TMB were able to get it knocked off the


House Local and Uncontested Calendar (a fast track for bills that have no opposition) late in the session. Those critics were hoping to load SB 190 up with language from the AAPS-sup- ported HB 1013.


Instead, Senator Nelson and Sen. Joan Huffman (R-South-


side Place) added the SB 190 language to Representative Schwertner’s HB 680, which included other TMB reforms TMA supported. The measure went back to the House, where Representative Schwertner won approval of the Senate amend- ments without the AAPS-supported language ever coming up for debate. “We truly appreciate the dedication, hard work, and legisla- tive savvy demonstrated by Senators Nelson and Huffman and Representatives King and Schwertner,” Dr. Malone said. “Once outside parties jeopardized the passage of another reform bill, SB 190, by knocking it off of the House calendar, these leg- islators worked to make sure the changes at TMB still would occur. Quick thinking and action on their part resurrected the important provisions of SB 190 by adding them on to HB 680.


TMB reforms at a glance


Physicians will face less bureaucratic hassle from the Texas Medical Board (TMB) under a trio of Texas Medical Association-backed bills sent to Gov. Rick Perry for his signature. “These three bills provide much-needed due process protections for


physicians without endangering the 2003 liability reforms that have meant so much to Texas,” TMA President C. Bruce Malone, MD, said in a letter urging Governor Perry to sign the bills into law. One of the most important things the bills would do is prohibit the filing of anonymous complaints. They also:


• Require the board to notify the physician when insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, or third-party administrators file a complaint;


• Increase the time for a physician to respond to a complaint notice from 30 days to 45 days;


• Allow physicians to tape the proceedings of a TMB informal settle- ment conference;


• Allow TMB to require a remedial action plan rather than impose a fine for a minor administrative violation;


• Institute a seven-year statute of limitation on bringing a disciplinary action, mirroring the TMB rule on how long doctors need to keep a patient’s medical record; and


• Bind TMB to the ruling of an administrative law judge in a proceeding supervised by the State Office of Administrative Hearings.


July 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 21


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