• Promote government efficiency and accountability by reducing Medicaid red tape.
• Protect physicians’ ability to charge for their services.
• Improve the state’s public health defense to better respond in a crisis.
• Preserve Texas’ landmark medical liability reforms.
• Protect the patient-physician rela- tionship from corporate intrusions.
More than 400 physicians, stu-
dents, and TMA Alliance members joined the “white coat invasion” in February. Another 200-plus visited the Capitol for the March event. Those who can’t make the April
event have one last chance to be a TMA lobbyist for a day. Register now for the May 5 First Tuesdays at www
.texmed.org/firsttuesdays.
House of Delegates to vote on TMA amendment
THE TMA HOUSE OF DELEGATES will vote on final approval of thisTMA constitutional amendment at TexMed 2015 inMay. Delegates approved the following on first reading in 2014. Amend Constitution Article IV, OF- FICERS, as follows:
The officers of the association shall be a the president, president-elect, immediate past president, secre- tary/treasurer, and speaker and vice speaker of the House of Dele- gates, the nine at-large members of the Board of Trustees and a coun- cilor for each councilor district. Their election, responsibilities, and terms of office shall be as provided in the bylaws.
The TMA Foundation presented its top 2015 John P. McGovern Champion of Health Award to Fit- Worth, a Foundation for Wellness Texas program launched by Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price in 2012 to combat childhood obesity. From left to right are TMAF board members D’Anna Wick; Russell WH Kridel, MD; and T. David Greer, MD; FitWorth Director Kate Blackburn; TMAF Board of Trustees Presi- dent G. Sealy Massingill, MD; Leslie Casey, chair of the Board of Directors at Foundation for Wellness Texas; and TMAF board members Lee Ann Pearse, MD; and Deborah A. Fuller, MD. The Medical Miles Mentorship program of Baylor College of Medicine’s Medical Student Chapter received a second- ary Champion of Health Award for its efforts to improve the health and wellness of sixth-graders through physical activity and mentoring.
PHOTOS BY JIM LINCOLN April 2015 TEXAS MEDICINE 23
Mary Anne McCaffree, MD, a member of the American Medical Association Board of Trust- ees, told TMA Winter Conference attendees in January that AMA is pushing to regain last year’s momentum to replace Medicare’s flawed Sustainable Growth Rate formula. The Okla- homa City pediatrician praised the leadership of Texans in Congress on the issue. She also said AMA is working to undo the “regulatory tsunami of meaningful use, PQRS [Physician Quality Reporting System], and value-based modifiers” before they swamp physicians’ practices.
Sen. Charles Schwertner, MD (R-Georgetown), chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, urged his colleagues at the TMA Winter Conference to jump feet first into advo- cating for their patients and their profession. Senator Schwertner recalled how he lobbied for tort reform in 2003 as an orthopedic surgeon participating in TMA’s very first, First Tuesdays at the Capitol event. “I come from your world,” he said. “I understand your issues.”
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