Meanwhile, lawmakers are watch-
ing closely. “The legislature made sub- stantial new investments in graduate medical education this session, and I would like to see that funding contin- ued if those investments show promise of growing GME,” Senator Williams said.
Physicians flock to Texas
Texas continues to attract flocks of new physicians, according to 2013 Texas Medical Board (TMB) licensing figures. TMB licensed 3,594 new physicians — the third highest annual number of li- censees the state has seen — this past year. The 2013 total was only 1 percent
(36 licenses) below the historic peak of 3,630 in 2012. TMB has issued more than 3,000 new medical licenses each year for the past seven years. Since 2003 — the year Texas passed landmark medical liability reforms — the state has licensed almost 32,000 new physicians. That’s an average of 3,200 newly licensed doctors each of the past 10 years and 800 more than the average recorded for the decade before tort reform. Texas also set a record in 2013 in the
number of applications for a medical license. The 4,610 medical license ap- plications topped the previous record set in 2012 by 8 percent. Texas consistently received more than 4,000 license ap- plications each of the past eight years. The Texas Medical Association is inves- tigating why the 2013 record number of applications did not also translate into a record high in the number of newly
licensed physicians. TMB is under a leg- islative mandate to maintain an average of no more than 51 days for processing an application. Meanwhile, Texas lost some foot-
ing in the state ranking of patient care physicians per 100,000 population, slip- ping from 42nd to 43rd in the latest national updates from the American Medical Association. The rankings are based on 2011 physician data. TMA offi- cials explained that the number actually increased from 193 patient care physi- cians per 100,000 population to 195, but other states saw greater improvements. Texas’ physician supply has grown faster than the population seven out of the past 10 years. n
Amy Lynn Sorrel is an associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1392, or (512) 370-1392; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at
amy.sorrel@
texmed.org.
Experienced & Confidential Statewide representation with
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Medical and Physician Assistant Board Actions Probation Modification/Termination Peer Review • Licensure • Reinstatement Medicare-Medicaid Appeals/TMF DEA/DPS Registration/Investigation Actions Medico-legal issues • Managed Care Exclusions Personal Counsel in Medical Liability Cases
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