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Reviewers Required for Rural Revenue Recipients - 09/10/2024

If you understand rural health needs and have some time to help facilities in those areas seek state funding, the State Office of Rural Health needs your help.

New Tyler Medical School Wins Approval - 08/09/2024

 The University of Texas Board of Regents late last month unanimously approved the first medical school in East Texas – and the 16th in the state – at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Tyler.

Living Legacy: TMA Archive Preserves Medicine's Past - 06/04/2024

TMA’s archive is vital resource for member physicians, medical historians, genealogists, and educators as well as TMA boards, councils, and committees, which lean on documented precedent when crafting internal policy.

New TMA Policies Aim to Strengthen Physician Workforce Pipeline - 05/14/2024

Among others, top new policies direct TMA to study ways to assist unmatched medical graduates and to advocate for increased per-resident funding to offset medical schools’ teaching costs – a rate that has not budged since 2008. Read more.

Coming Up Short: TMA Workforce Report Underscores Access Challenges, Advocacy Wins - 05/06/2024

While the study highlights positive growth facilitated by TMA’s ongoing advocacy, it shows shortages that mirror those across the health care professional workforce and that are particularly entrenched in rural areas; it also reveals challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and by other factors, economic or otherwise, that have complicated Texas' practice environment and impacted recruitment.

Deadline: TMA Scholarship Fosters Diversity in Medicine - 02/27/2024

As Match Day nears, so does the deadline to apply for a Texas Medical Association scholarship helping to ensure the physician workforce more closely mirrors the population it serves.

Hospitals, Especially Rural Ones, Face Increased Risk of Closure as Pandemic Funds Dwindle - 01/29/2024

Now approaching the fourth year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas hospitals are still reeling from its impact, facing elevated expenses, depressed patient volume, and tighter margins compared with prepandemic numbers. Rural hospitals, in particular, are at a significantly higher risk of closing.

A Helping Hand for Future Physicians: The Diversity in Medicine Scholarship - 12/19/2023

Medical school can be an expensive undertaking. The Diversity in Medicine Scholarship aims to make pursuing this noble profession more accessible.

Corpus Hospital Revives Emergency Medicine Residency Program - 12/15/2023

Following a grassroots advocacy effort by local physicians, CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi recently reversed its plan to close the CHRISTUS Health-Texas A&M Spohn Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency program in 2026. The program will continue at least through 2029 thanks to funding from the Nueces County Hospital District.

Corpus Hospital Closes ER Residency - 10/24/2023

Christus Spohn Hospital recently announced its plan to close its emergency medicine residency program in June 2026. This came as a shock to the medical community. The statement from Christus cited consideration of the availability of resources as the reason for the unexpected closure. Read the op-ed.

Unlocking Doors: Diversity in Medicine Scholarship Program Connects Students with Mentors - 10/21/2023

When the Texas Medical Association founded its Diversity in Medicine Scholarship Program in 1998 to diversify the physician workforce, Dr. Ramamurthy became both a contributor and a mentor to students who receive the scholarships. “When you’re mentoring students, one of the things that you want them to understand is that you’re somebody they can talk to who is not only there as a teacher, but as a friend,” she said. Other top donors to the Diversity in Medicine Scholarship serve voluntarily as mentors to student awardees. TMA encourages those arrangements because they can benefit both parties.

Inspiring Choices: Mentorship Can Boost African-American Representation in Medicine - 10/20/2023

African Americans are underrepresented in medicine. Mentorship can help them choose medical careers.

Fulfilling a Dream - 10/20/2023

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine has largely dispensed with lectures and focuses more on group learning and practical experience. This and other innovations dovetail with the school's focus on public health, which is vital in a region notorious for high poverty and chronic health problems.

Rotations, Residency Applications, Testing Fees? TMA Low-Interest Loans Can Help - 10/03/2023

As a medical student, Zachary Hamilton, MD, had no idea how he was going to pay for his fourth-year residency applications and travel expenses to interviews. Then he heard about and applied for a TMA low-interest educational loan.

Furthering Medical Education in Texas - 07/17/2023

Medical education in Texas is moving in the right direction. The Texas Medical Association has been a major partner in advancing medical education initiatives. This special symposium issue on medical education examines residency training costs, the Next Accreditation System, graduate medical education in rural Texas, Texas' physician workforce needs, the current state of education reform, and efforts to retain medical graduates in Texas.

Applications Open for Physician Education Loan Repayment Program - 06/22/2023

After closing on and off for more than a year, Texas’ Physician Education Loan Repayment Program, which gives physicians a strong financial reason to practice in rural and underserved areas, is now taking applications.

House of Delegates Tackles Health Care Workforce Shortages - 05/25/2023

As Texas continues to face health care workforce shortages, particularly in rural areas, the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates responded to those concerns with new policies aimed at bolstering the ranks of medical students, residents, physicians, and bedside nurses at its annual TexMed conference last week.

More Than a Match: UTRGV Medical Students Overcome Pandemic Pressures to Earn Residency Spots - 04/30/2023

Forty-five students in the fourth graduating class of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, along with their family members, friends, and UTRGV officials, gathered at the school’s performing arts center in Edinburg for Match Day. That's the day in March when medical students across the U.S. discover where they will train as resident physicians.

Learning Through a Value Lens: Texas Medical Students Learn Value-Based Care Tenets - 04/30/2023

The national Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship (STARS) program seeks to catalyze physicians' uptake of value-based care, starting with medical students, whom it anticipates will have long, impactful careers.

Ready for Business: MBA programs broaden physicians' skills - 10/03/2022

A growing number of Texas physicians obtain MBA degrees to sharpen their business acumen, understand finance, and prepare for leadership roles.

Texas’ Shifting Demographics Prompt Scholarship Program Change - 09/26/2022

Acknowledging a state now filled with people of different cultures and experiences, the Texas Medical Association has renamed its minority scholarship the TMA Diversity in Medicine Scholarship.

TMA Urges Comprehensive Rural Health Care Reform Amid Workforce Shortages - 09/22/2022

Last December, Adrian Billings, MD – a family physician serving Alpine, Marfa, and Presidio – responded to a small plane crash on his way home from work. After he called 911, he saw the lone ambulance in Presidio pass by the crash, on its way to another call. He said the two plane passengers likely wouldn’t have survived had emergency medical services from nearby cities not intervened.

Financial Woes Adding to Med School Stress? Consider a TMA Low-Interest Loan - 09/16/2022

Unsure how to pay for residency program applications, one Texas medical student considered getting a high-interest credit card to cover the cost. Instead, a low-interest loan from the Texas Medical Association solved the problem.

Preparing the Path: All Physicians Can Play a Role in Mentoring to Improve Diversity in Medicine - 06/29/2022

Like every physician, Harlingen family physician Adela Valdez, MD, understands that her career in medicine happened in part because of hard work – but also because a lot of people guided her way.

Screen Test: Will Residency Interviews Stay Online After the Pandemic? - 03/31/2022

Before COVID-19, most U.S. residency programs used in-person interviews to select residents. The pandemic forced those interviews online. Will the change become permanent?