April 30, 2015
- WHAT: Advocate, Educate, Collaborate.
More than 2,500 Texas Medical Association (TMA) physician leaders and
other health care experts and members of organized medicine will assemble
in Austin to do those and more during TexMed 2015, TMA’s annual
conference and expo. Physicians will develop critical health care policies
that will effect positive change for Texas patients and patient care.
Hundreds also will visit legislators at the State Capitol to urge support
for bills to improve health care, and to deny bills that could hinder it.
- WHEN: Thursday-Saturday, April 30 (today)-May 2, 2015 (See details below)
- WHERE: State Capitol and Austin
Convention Center, 500 E. Cesar Chavez St., Austin
- WHO: TMA member physicians from across
Texas, political leaders, and notable speakers in medicine
- HIGHLIGHTS:
- Thursday, April 30, 2
pm:
Texas House of Representatives’ recognition of TMA physician and outreach
program. The
Texas House will honor Larry Driver, MD, of Houston. Dr. Driver conceived
the idea for TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads program in 1994, which
recently reached the milestone of putting its 200,000th helmet on a Texas
child. Rep. J.D. Sheffield, DO, will read the resolution honoring Dr.
Driver, TMA, and the efforts of TMA physicians, their spouses, and
medical students who have sponsored helmet giveaways.
- Thursday, April 30, 2-4
pm: TexMed at the Capitol
(Thursday edition of TMA’s First Tuesdays at the Capitol). TexMed attendees — TMA
physicians, medical students, and Alliance volunteers — will visit
legislators at the Capitol for a special First Tuesdays lobby day, asking
support for bills that promote good health care for patients and
opposition to bills that do not.
- Friday, May 1, 4-5 pm:
Opening General
Session Speaker
Ira Byock, MD: The Best Care Possible. One of the
foremost palliative care physicians in the country, Dr. Byock claims that
how we die is one of the biggest national crises we face today. In
addressing “the sorry state of dying in America, politics has trumped
reason,” he says. Dr. Byock explains that to ensure the best possible
care for those we love — and eventually ourselves — we must not only
remake our health care system, but also move past our cultural aversion
to talking about dying and acknowledge our mortality.
- Saturday, May 2, 8:30
am-Noon: House of Delegates
- 9:15 am — Distinguished Service
Award Presentation
to Donald Wayne Seldin, MD, Dallas internist and nephrologist, and
chairman emeritus of UT Southwestern, who will receive TMA’s highest
honor.
- 10 am — Address by Rep. Michael Burgess,
MD, (R-Lewisville), about passage into law of his
Congressional bill to repeal the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate
formula.
- 10:45 am — Installation of A.
Tomas Garcia III, MD, of Houston as TMA President.
- Throughout the morning, TMA’s House
of Delegates policymaking body will consider adoption of new guidelines
for medicine and the association. Among the House resolutions up for
consideration:
- A proposal to expedite
pharmacies’ adoption of Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances,
in light of recent thefts of physicians’ Drug Enforcement Agency/ DPS
numbers;
- A resolution to urge medical
schools and medical residency programs to reconsider restrictions or
prohibitions of moonlighting by resident physicians, thereby enabling
them to serve patients outside their normal residency hours;
- A proposal to improve education
of medical trainees on the proper use of personal protective equipment,
in light of concerns during the Ebola incident in Dallas last year; and
- Policy recommendation calling
for living organ donors to receive lifelong medical insurance.
- Saturday, May 2, 1:30-2:30
pm: Closing General Session Speaker Patricia A. Shands, MD:
Journey Through Medicine. Dr.
Shands, an orthopedic surgeon and breast cancer survivor, will talk
about her journey and struggles as she moved from private practice to
working with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and traveling to
remote villages to provide health care.
Reporters, please
join us at TexMed 2015. Or call for interviews on any of the subjects presented
during or after the conference, and we’ll connect you with a physician expert. If attending in person, call Brent
Annear at (512) 656-7320 or Steve Levine at (512) 750-0971 upon arriving at the
TexMed registration desk to reduce your hassle and quickly find what and who
you need.
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.
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Last Updated On
February 01, 2017
Originally Published On
April 30, 2015