|
|
|
|
|
|
TOA
President's
Update
|
|
By
David Teuscher, MD
President, Texas Orthopaedic Association
If
you have not taken the opportunity to vote early in the
November 7th elections, this should serve as your
gentle reminder of the importance and privilege to
participate in the selection of your representatives in
Washington, Austin, and your county seat. In our democratic
republic form of government, your participation in the
selection and election
|
|
|
of
political leaders is required to sustain or re-establish good
government. Your status as an opinion leader in your community,
practice, and family requires you to become informed on the issues
and the positions of the candidates, and to urge the support of
those who will protect your patients’ ability to access your
orthopaedic services. This is especially important when we select
the district and appellate judges to fairly apply the law in
accordance with our hard won reforms of 2003.
The
TOA and the AAOS have important programs that pair elected
representatives with orthopaedic surgeons who have developed or are
willing to develop a close personal working relationship with
legislators. These Key Contact Programs are absolutely essential to
our legislative successes in the future, by establishing a long term
working relationship with legislators. When a bill is moving through
the legislative process late in the session is not the best time to
establish first contact with the members. If you are not currently
involved in the program, but have a working relationship, have
supported the election of a legislator, or have treated a legislator
or their family we need you to volunteer as a Key Contact. If you
have never been involved, now is your opportunity to volunteer. We
will train and equip you if you will commit to this long term
strategy by calling TOA or e-mailing info@toa.org.
Just
as your relationship with your spouse and practice partners was
developed over a long period of mutual trust and respect, the men
and women who represent us need the knowledge and support we can
offer. The ideal practice would be for all legislators to become
educated by orthopaedists who they know well before the start of the
session. They would trust your opinion and seek it in all
important matters in which you have special knowledge. Lastly, they
have enjoyed your support in previous elections and count on that
same level of support at their next re-election. That support
includes investing in their campaign, working to get out the vote
for the candidate, and recommending the candidate to your patients
and others in your sphere of influence.
My
challenge for you is to become involved in this essential process if
you are not already engaged. As John Quincy Adams stated, “You
will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your
freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.” My rule: if you
don’t vote and participate, you have no right to complain of the
tyranny of being governed by lesser men and women.
TOA Key Contact Survey
TOA
needs to know if you have friends at the Texas Capitol or in
Washington.
Please complete our Key Contact Survey by clicking here.
[top]
[back
to e-card archive page]
|
|
|
|
|
Texas
District by District:
Lieutenant
Governor David Dewhurst
|
|
Lieutenant
Governor David Dewhurst is a native Texan, proud veteran,
successful businessman, and rancher. He serves as President
of the Texas Senate and is proud of the broad support he has
earned during his tenure as Lieutenant Governor.
A
fiscal conservative, Dewhurst has worked to balance two
budget shortfalls without increasing the overall tax burden
on Texans and to |
|
keep
the annual growth of the General Revenue budget to less than
inflation, while funding essential services for society's
most vulnerable—children, the elderly, and the frail.
Seeing the need to rebuild the state's troubled child
protective services agencies, he worked with the Senate to
develop a comprehensive plan to reform Child Protective
Services (CPS) and Adult Protective Services (APS).
Believing
education is the key to our children's futures, Dewhurst
worked with the Senate to pass bills three times to improve
public education by raising standards, increasing
accountability, raising teacher salaries, and to lower
local school property taxes by one-third.
To make university study affordable, Dewhurst worked
to pass the “B-on-Time Loan Program," which provides
college students with zero-interest loans and forgives that
indebtedness if they graduate on time with a “B”
average. Dewhurst has also worked to reform the state's
workers' compensation system by providing better quality
care to injured workers at less cost for employers. He was a
leader on asbestos reform legislation that helps the victims
of asbestos and silica exposure receive the compensation
they deserve, while stopping thousands of baseless claims
from flooding Texas courts. Today, Dewhurst continues to
work to improve the quality of life for all Texans by
continuing to address school finance reform, water policy,
improving higher education, and reforming Medicaid.
Dewhurst
began his business career in the mid-1970s after serving as
an officer in the U.S. Air Force, the Central Intelligence
Agency, and the U.S. State Department.
He founded Falcon Seaboard, a Texas-based diversified
energy and investments company. An early developer in the
mid-1980s in the electric cogeneration business, he has
earned a reputation as an innovative and successful
businessman.
Dewhurst
has been a long time community and civic leader in his
hometown of Houston, where he has served on civic and
charitable boards. Dewhurst,
who speaks Spanish, earned his BA degree from the University
of Arizona, where he played college basketball. He breeds
and raises registered Black Angus cattle, and he rides
cutting horses in National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA)
competitions, where he qualified for the 2005 World Finals
events.
Email Lieutenant
Governor Dewhurst to thank him for his work!
[top]
[back
to e-card archive page]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TXANS
Workers Compensation Update
|
|
The Senate Committee on State
Affairs met on October 19, 2006 to discuss workers'
compensation since the passage of House
Bill 7. HB 7 was passed during the last
regular session of the Texas legislature and [more]
[top]
[back
to e-card archive page]
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
Restricting
Or Limiting Of Patient's Choice Of Facilities Letter
|
|
Have you received a letter from a health plan or
hospital suggesting restrictions or the limiting of a
patient’s choice of facilities to only those in the network?
As many of you are aware, TMA has been conducting a
study related to physician ownership. As a part of their
study, they have asked us to solicit our members for
documentation related to health plans or
|
|
hospitals sending suggestive letters to physicians
that may restrict patient choice or threats of de-credentialing by
hospitals. TMA wants to measure the extent that this issue is a problem
for Texas physicians.
If
you have received any letters of this type, please fax a copy of any of
these letters to Donna Parker, TOA Executive Director at 512-370-1515.
[top]
[back
to e-card archive page]
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
Oct.
AAOS Bulletin puts focus on emergency care, on-call issues
|
|
The October edition of the AAOS Bulletin is
on its way to you now, and will be available electronically on
the AAOS Web site by the end of this week. The cover
story, emergency care and on-call issues, includes
information from the AAOS Trauma/On-Call Project Team,
|
|
AAOS members sharing their stories of how they
negotiated for on-call stipends, and the newly adopted AAOS
Position Statement on On-Call coverage and Emergency Care
Services in Orthopaedics. Other featured articles include:
an update on the pay-for-performance issue, information on
opting-out of Medicare, what you should know about the
National Practitioner Data Bank, the new AAOS Web site, and
a report from the AAOS Treasurer. The Bulletin
online can be accessed at by clicking here.
[top]
[back
to e-card archive page]
|
|
| |
|
| |
| Texas
Orthopaedic Association Surveys |
|
|
Please take the time to
complete the survey of your choice and give us some feedback. It should only take you a minute or two and it helps
us serve you better. Your opinion is important to us.
If
you have an idea for a survey, or, if you just want to know
what other TOA members think about a subject... you can email Donna
Parker, TOA Executive Director at donna@toa.org.
|
Current
Texas Orthopaedic Association Surveys
-
TOA Member Survey
Click here
to fill out the survey.
-
Diagnostic Examinations of Joints Performed on MRI
Units Survey
Click here
to fill out the survey.
-
Trailblazer Survey
Click here
to fill out this survey.
-
Key Contact Survey
Click here
to fill out this survey.
[top]
[back
to e-card archive page]
|
|
|
|
|
You have subscribed to this newsletter. If your email
address has changed, please update
your account. Thank you!
|
|
