Texas Physician Full Employment Act
Good luck getting this changed:
As a new kind of family-friendly and affordable medical clinic pops up in bunches across the nation, Texas waits like a flu patient sitting in a crowded doctor’s office.
The barrier is state law, which urgently needs updating to keep up with new trends in health-care delivery.
The “barrier” is actually the Texas Medical Association and its interest is protecting its turf.
Texas’ fast-growing population exacerbates the demand for medical care. Competitors in the health care market place had ambitious legislative agendas, using this demographic trend to secure their footing. More than 88 bills were filed that would expand the scope of practice for nonphysician
practitioners. Retail health clinics sought authority for nurse practitioners to provide medical services beyond their education, training, and skill.
The trial lawyers shot out of the gate early, trying to weaken the 2003 liability reforms. Despite all these obstructive forces, not a single bill passed that would put patients in harm’s way. Instead, lawmakers supported TMA-backed legislation. They:
Stopped scope-of-practice expansions for nonphysician practitioners beyond their level of training and experience;
Preserved the historic 2003 medical liability reforms and Proposition 12;
Of course, the TMA is simply looking out for the best interests of the “patient’s health.” With the damage caps in courts, they wouldn’t want patients to subject themselves to less than professional care. Besides, with all these new physicians moving into the state to practice because of lower malpractice premiums, there’s no need to settle for less than a full physician right? And we all know how much the increase in competition among those new physicians have lowered medical costs for the average consumer.
When will people wake up to the fact that “tort reform” has done nothing for the average consumer?
Technorati Tags: David Hendricks, tort reform, Texas Medical Association, scope of practice expansion
Filed under: David Hendricks, Texas Medical Association, tort reform
Thanks so much for publicizing our positions on patient safety.
As for liability reform, here’s what the 2003 changes have brought for Texans:
Sick and injured Texans now have more physicians who are more willing and able to give them the medical care they need. Texas is licensing an average of 400 more doctors per year than in the pre-reform years. Nearly all of the newly licensed physicians cite an improved liability climate as one of the critical reasons they have come to the state. Texas physicians are much more likely to accept patients with complex or high-risk problems.
More doctors, especially emergency room care and high-risk specialists, are practicing in Texas since the passage of Proposition 12. This has allowed more patients to get the timely and specialized care they need closer to home.
Texans have more access to the medical care they need, especially in emergencies, so the caps on the non-economic damages have helped save peoples’ lives.
The reforms have worked. They’ve lived up to their promise. Texas physicians’ No. 1 challenge now is how to cure the patient, not how to avoid a frivolous lawsuit.
For more details, please see http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=5238
Steve Levine
VP, Communications
Texas Medical Association