Senate Vote Shores Up Texas Physician Pipeline

April 7, 2015

Texas Medical Association (TMA) President Austin I. King, MD, issued the following statement after the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 18 by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) to fund expansion of graduate medical education in Texas, by a unanimous 31-0 vote.


"This bill helps ensure more doctors can stay in Texas to care for Texans. 

"Texas physicians wholeheartedly applaud the Texas Senate for rising up in unison to support training more physicians to care for Texas patients. We thank Senator Nelson for recognizing that our young medical graduates fresh out of medical school must be able to pursue their graduate medical education, or residency, in the Lone Star State. This bill helps ensure those young physicians can stay in the Texas education pipeline to complete their training here if they choose to do so. 

"New physicians typically establish their medical practice near where they complete their residency, so if we boost the number of residency slots in Texas, more of them can complete their training here and practice here." 

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 TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 48,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 110 component county medical societies around the state. TMA's key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.

Contact:   

Steve Levine, Office (512) 370-1380, Cell (512) 750-0971, steve.levine[at]texmed[dot]org

Brent Annear, Office (512) 370-1381, Cell (512) 656-7320, brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org

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Last Updated On

March 21, 2018

Originally Published On

April 07, 2015