March. 20, 2018
- WHAT: More than 70 top obstetrician-gynecologists,
family physicians, and other physicians and health experts from across Texas will
convene the state’s first-ever Texas
Medical Association (TMA)
Maternal Health Congress in Austin on
Saturday. Their goal is to address the alarming rate of women dying after
childbirth and seek solutions to the complex issue.
Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate
(women dying during or after childbirth) in the U.S., and our state’s death rates have nearly doubled in recent years. Maternal death rates in the U.S. have been increasing, even as the
rate of women dying during or after childbirth is decreasing in most developed countries.
Physician leaders and other health experts at
the conference will discuss maternal death and severe illness in Texas,
analyzing Texas’ death rate among pregnant and postpartum women. They will
explore myriad contributing factors associated with women dying prematurely
during pregnancy and/or up to one year after giving birth. These include access
to prenatal care and management of chronic health issues, and health
disparities preventing that access; cardiac events, hypertension/eclampsia, and
hemorrhage; substance abuse; tobacco use; obesity; postpartum depression; and suicide.
The physicians’ ultimate mission is to recommend
legislative initiatives and other policy changes to quash this troubling public
health threat.
“We physicians see the statistics, and in
some cases these tragic, preventable deaths occur among our own patients,” said Carlos J. Cardenas, MD, TMA president. “We decided who besides
the doctors should stand up and say, ‘This is unacceptable, we must do
something to reverse this trend?’ We physicians must lead the charge toward
identifying the problems and recommending solutions, to ensure more mothers
deliver their babies and live healthy motherhoods.”
- WHEN: THIS Saturday, March 24, 10 am-1 pm (See schedule below.)
- WHERE: TMA Building, Thompson Auditorium, First
Floor, 401 W. 15th St., Austin
SCHEDULE OF PROGRAM AND SPEAKERS
10 am
Welcome
-Carlos J. Cardenas, MD – president, TMA
Review Agenda and Introductions
-David Lakey, MD – chair, TMA Council on Science and Public Health; vice chancellor for health affairs and chief medical officer, The University of Texas System
10:15 am
Overview of Texas Maternal Health Issues
-John Hellerstedt, MD – commissioner, Texas Department of State Health Services
-Lisa Hollier, MD – chair, Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force; professor and medical director, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
11 am
Substance Use Prevention and Treatment
-Amy Young, MD – professor, The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
-Carlos Tirado, MD – clinical associate professor, The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School
11:45 am
Access to Care and Health Disparities
-Ryan Van Ramshorst, MD – chair, TMA Select Committee on Medicaid, CHIP, and the Uninsured
-Carla Ortique, MD – vice chair, Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force; Baylor College of Medicine
12:15 pm
Maternal Health Quality Initiatives — ACOG Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health
-Jeanne Mahoney, RN, BSN – AIM Program senior director, American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists
1 pm
(Adjourn to Executive Session of the Maternal Health Congress)
Reporters, please park in visitor parking on the second level of the TMA
garage. (Enter through the San Antonio St. entrance.) Call or ask for Brent
Annear or Marcus Cooper upon arrival, and we will help you find the room and
arrange any interviews you might need.
TMA is the largest state medical society in
the nation, representing more than 51,000 physician and medical student
members. It is located in Austin and has 112 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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Contacts:
Brent
Annear (512) 370-1381; cell: (512)
656-7320; email: brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
Marcus
Cooper (512) 370-1382; cell: (512)
650-5336; email: marcus.cooper[at]texmed[dot]org
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