The Texas Medical Association (TMA) said its top priorities this legislative session are issues around scope-of-practice and women’s reproductive health.
As part of its interim report for the current session, the House Select Committee of Health Care Reform (HSCHCR) recommended increased funding for medical education and workforce development to expand the supply of physicians, nurses, and mental health professionals in the state.
Speaking to State of Reform on Tuesday, TMA President Gary Floyd, MD, said the push to expand the provision of physician services to individuals who are underqualified and expediently trained is misguided.
“Most of us did not learn how to take care of patients in medical school,” Floyd said. “We learned it in our postgraduate training, after we graduated medical school. We learned it in our residency training, three to nine years extra, where we were exposed to not just well patients in the clinics, but very, very sick, ill, and injured patients in ICU settings.
We were monitored and watched by any number of faculty physicians who had significantly more experience and in that teaching, in that learning, [the knowledge] is invaluable and helps us in any walk of life. To say, ‘Well I’ve served six months in one or two clinics doing well-patient care,’ that’s not nearly equivalent. Taking care of critically ill and injured patients actually teaches us a lot more about well-care and a lot more about who is well and who is sick, the differentiation between two.”
He nonetheless believes supporting and growing the workforce is a top priority and hopes this year’s session will continue to fund programs that encourage students and doctors to pursue medicine in the state. Floyd said the number of licensed physicians practicing in Texas has kept up with the population growth in recent years, pointing to the record number of doctors, some 7,000, licensed last year.
Source: President of Texas Medical Association shares 2023 legislative priorities / State of Reform