We're within Striking Distance on HB 3816
 Steven F Hotze
April 17, 2009
Dear Colleague,
Thank you for the outstanding job you have done in contacting the members of the Texas House Public Health Committee. It has made a dramatic difference! Without your dedicated efforts we would not be within reach of our goal, which is to get HB 3816 voted out of committee by Thursday, April 23, 2009.
HB 3816, which revises the Texas Medical Practice Act and would transform the Texas Medical Board’s procedures for handling complaints against physicians, was well received in the hearing before the Texas House Public Health Committee (PHC) Tuesday in Austin. Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, committee chair, indicated that she would work to have this bill passed by the committee no later than Thursday April 23, 2009, after a few minor changes are made by Rep. Fred Brown, author of the bill.
Please read the Austin American Statesman article about HB 3816, which appeared on the front page, above the fold, in Wednesday’s paper. The article follows this letter.
This afternoon, Tom Holloway, Legislative Director for Rep. Brown, Allen Blakemore, lobbyist for the Association of the American Physicians and Surgeons, and I will be meeting with Rep. Kolkhorst to work out the final amendments to HB 3816 and have it prepared for members of the PHC to vote it out of committee, Thursday, April 23, 2009.
It is still important that you keep the pressure on the members of the Public Health Committee, contacting them by phone and e-mail to ask them to vote HB 3816 out of committee.
It is still critical for you to keep contacting, by phone and e-mail, members of the Public Health Committee today and tomorrow morning, particularly Reps. Naishtat, Coleman, King and Truitt, who are uncommitted, and encourage them to support HB 3816 and vote it out of committee no later than Thursday, April 23rd.
2009 House Public Health Committee
Chair:
Lois Kolkhorst (13)
(512) 463-0600
E2.318
Uncommitted:
Vice Chair:
Elliott Naishtat (49)
(512) 463-0668
GW.16
Members:
Garnet Coleman (147)
(512) 463-0524
Legislative Director/General Counsel – Elizabeth Choate, J.D.
GW.17
Susan King (71)
(512) 463-0718
Legislative Aide: Kate Raetz
E2.416
Vicki Truitt (98)
(512) 463-0690
Chief of Staff – Terra Taylor
Legislative Aide – Sophia Lecky
Legislative Director – Dan Sutherland
GW.18
Committed Supporters:
John Davis (129)
(512) 463-0734
John Robert Ball - Legislative Aide goes by "John Robert"
4S.4
John Zerwas (28)
(512) 463-0657
E2.316
Jim McReynolds (12)
(512) 463-0490
1W.3
Jodie Laubenberg (89)
(512) 463-0186
Cassidy Daniel - Front office (didn't have card)
Katie Qualls - Front office (didn't have card)
E2.504
Veronica Gonzales (41)
(512) 463-0578
Regina Campos, Brittney Booth – Legislative Aides
E1.324
Chuck Hopson
512.463.0592
E2.708
Please be sure to forward this email to your distribution lists and ask them to participate with you. Time is of the essence.
A synopsis and summary of the bill can be found on this website.
Confident that we will be successful in our efforts to revise the Texas Medical Practice Act by passing HB 3816, I remain, as always,
Sincerely yours,
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
President
Texans for Patients’ and Physician’s Rights
20214 Braidwood, Suite 215
Katy, Texas 77450
281.698.8679 - Stacey Bandfield, Director of Public Relations
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
TEXAS LEGISLATURE
Board that disciplines doctors may be reined in
Bill would create new oversight panel, force disclosure of some accusers.
A bill that was the subject of a 5½-hour hearing Tuesday would sharply curtail the powers of the Texas Medical Board if it becomes law.
Backers argued that it would bring much-needed transparency and provide greater fairness to doctors whom, some say, the board is persecuting. They especially raised concerns about practitioners of alternative medicine and those who treat conditions such as autism.
Opponents, however, said the legislation would leave patients more vulnerable to bad doctors and make it difficult for patients to complain about physicians in a state where the Legislature has made it harder to sue for malpractice.
In the end, the House Public Health Committee said it would amend House Bill 3816, which also would disclose the names of some complainants to doctors and create an advisory committee to oversee the board. The committee didn't specify what it might change.
"I don't want to make a mistake," said chairwoman Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham.
The mission of the board, which licenses and disciplines doctors in Texas, is to protect the public.
"This bill does not keep faith with the people of Texas," said Melinda Fredricks of Conroe, who served on the medical board from 2003 to 2008. She said the state passed a tort reform law in 2003, and "as a trade-off, we toughened the medical board," which had been criticized as being too lax. Fredricks was the last to testify among two dozen people.
But supporters of the bill, authored by Rep. Fred Brown, R-Bryan, said the board has abused its authority and gone after minor infractions, costing doctors thousands of dollars, time away from their practices and sleepless nights.
The bill was co-authored by various individuals and groups, including the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is suing the board in federal court, alleging misuse of its authority. Andy Schlafly, son of famous conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, is general counsel for the group, which claims several thousand members.
"The board should not be telling people how to practice medicine," Schlafly said.
A provision in the bill that would prohibit the board from requiring a doctor to practice medicine in a particular manner is a big concern of the Texas Medical Association, said Dr. William Fleming, a Houston neurologist and president-elect of the association, who spoke against the bill.
The provision "severely weakens" the board's ability to sanction doctors who prescribe illegally or perform unproven therapies, he said.
But parents and some doctors at the hearing said the board is targeting doctors willing to treat children with autism, people with Lyme disease and others who suffer from ailments that many mainstream doctors won't touch.
In emotional testimony that had some in the audience in tears, Lamarque Polvado, a Dallas-area parent of a daughter with autism, said, "The medical board doesn't understand how few providers are willing to risk their license (to help). ... That's the type of provider I need."
Parents and others said they believe insurance companies are behind some anonymous complaints the board receives because they don't want to pay doctors for care.
Mari Robinson, the medical board's executive director, said just 1 percent of complaints come from insurance companies; 1 to 3 percent come from unknown sources; 8 to 12 percent come from other medical providers such as doctors and nurses; and 65 percent come from patients, family members or friends. All complaints are confidential by law.
Is it more important, she asked, to allow a physician to see a complaint or to protect a vulnerable patient?
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