REPORT OF YOUNG PHYSICIAN SECTION
YPS Report 1-A-07
Subject: Young Physician Section Activities
Presented by: Dawn Buckingham, MD, Chair
TMA ended 2006 with a net increase in active members of 720 and a 1.7 percent increase in membership, reaching a total of 41,810 physician and student members. Young physician membership increased by 109 members, or 1.2 percent of young physician memberships.
New To Texas-Newly Licensed Physicians Plan
Recruiting newly licensed physicians remains a high priority as the growth of this population has spiked in the past 12 to 18 months. In 2001, TMA began receiving data six times a year on newly licensed physicians from the Texas Medical Board (TMB). This data was imported into the TMA iMIS database. It indicates that, on average, 70 percent join within five years of licensure, and it takes an average of 11 months for a newly licensed physician to become a member. The licensure year and the year after are the two most successful years for recruiting newly licensed physicians.
TMB received applications from 4,026 physicians during its 2006 fiscal year, September 2005-August 2006, compared to 2,992 during that same time last year. However, the TMB is months behind in processing applications; approximately 2,389 applications were still in various stages of process at the close of the 2006 fiscal year.
TMA and CMS staffs have followed a long standing step-by-step process for multiple follow-up activities. In spite of these efforts, the percentage of newly licensed physicians who are recruited has remained fairly steady, increasing only slightly over the past five years. TMA is working with county medical societies to revise the current newly licensed recruitment plan. The new plan will include more personal interactions with new licensees and more tangible information and benefits for this key group.
Leadership
Dawn Buckingham, MD, was elected as a member at-large of the 2006-07 AMA-YPS Governing Council during the 2006 AMA Conference in Chicago. Dr. Buckingham will fill a one-year vacancy for the second member at-large position.
Rural Scholarship
The YPS Rural Scholarship is transforming into a memorial scholarship for Michael O'Malley, MD. Dr. O'Malley, a recipient of a similar scholarship himself, was an internal medicine physician in Galveston and past chair of the TMA Young Physician Section. Dr. O'Malley was a huge proponent of rural student scholarships. Tragically, Dr. O'Malley died from a cardiac arrest in his home, leaving a wife and two young children. In memory of Dr. O'Malley the section is embarking on a one-time campaign to raise enough funds to maintain the scholarship throughout perpetuity. The YPS will hold a fundraising reception Thursday evening during TexMed 2007 to raise money to fund the scholarship.
Three TMA-YPS members reviewed the 48 applications received this year for the YPS Rural Scholarship Fund. The review team narrowed the candidates to nine finalists. The YPS Executive Council will vote on the 2007 recipient from those top nine applications, and the honoree will be presented with a scholarship during the TexMed 2007 House of Delegates meeting in April.
TexMed 2007
In an effort to be a more visible contributor to TMA activities, the YPS hosted TexMed orientation sessions for the first time in 2005. Due to positive feedback and success of the program over the past two years, the section will sponsor it again at TexMed 2007. New TMA members, new House of Delegates members, and first-time TexMed attendees will be invited. The one-hour orientation will cover the ins and outs of the House of Delegates, offer tips to make the most of TexMed, provide information on ways to get involved in TMA, and suggest things to see while in Dallas. Attendees also will have the opportunity to interact with colleagues and TMA leadership and to ask questions.
The YPS is hosting a new track during TexMed 2007 titled Medicine and the Law. Active YPS members who worked closely with TMA on confirming speakers and logistics suggested a fraud and ethics presentation for the session.
TMA House of Delegates: TexMed 2007