Summer 2014

Mission Statement

The mission of the Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians is to promote quality health care for all Texans by strengthening the practice of internal medicine.

President's Message

Roger Khetan, MD, FACP
TXACP President

Do we practice what we preach?

As I was walking into my house after one of those long days, I looked over at the exercise bike and wondered if I needed to use it tonight or just skip it. All of us are busy with documentation, meetings, returning phone calls, sitting in traffic, and having a professional and personal life. Yet we tell our patients daily that it is not that hard to find 20-60 minutes to do their exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  Yet at that moment, I could think of multiple reasons not to exercise.

Most of you who know me can vouch for the fact that I love going to the gym. But as I was dragging my tired body up the stairs, I wondered if I had the energy. Then I remembered telling my patient earlier that day how I try to find time at least 4-5 times a week to do some dedicated exercise and found myself going toward the bike. It felt good to hit the 30 minutes mark and finally get ready for bed but it made me think of all of our lifestyles and schedules.

Like many of you, I try to live by example and hope to do a good job but I am not always successful. My twin brother and sister- in- law live next to me and I practice medicine with them, so I get to see my nieces and nephew often. I have observed that they have modeled their behavior after their parents and me. My niece and nephew have started to train with my trainer, and all of them go jogging with their parents. How often do we see families exercise together?

Obesity in our country has become a major conversation point, and we need to be the ones focused on getting adults and their children moving. Some of you have seen the commercial where a child uses a cell phone to call his grandmother to get him a drink. It is amazing how society has changed and has made it easier for us to not move but to pretend to play on our computers in a virtual reality.  As physicians, we have to encourage healthy lifestyles; in fact, some say we preach it. Yet, do we practice it? A poll of SHM members about 18-24 months ago asked members about their personal habits of nutrition, exercise, and sleep.  It is not surprising, that many physicians admitted to eating poorly and not exercising for weeks. Several members wrote about how we must take control of our health before we can take care of others. I have to say it is important for us to think about the image we portray to our patients and others if we do not practice what we preach.

I am not asking us to go overboard as I believe moderation is key to most things in life. I am asking us all to consider promoting exercise to our colleagues, our employees, our families, and our patients. They look to us for guidance in their health, and we should be found in the health clubs sweating like we are telling them to when they come to our offices. When we run into our colleagues, our employees, or our patients at the gym we should be encouraging to them as well as hope to receive encouragement from them. We have to practice the prevention and wellness that we hope will help in the long run in reducing healthcare costs. We are the ones who must lead by example, and there is no better time than this summer as we have new interns, residents  and medical students  coming into our lives

This summer and fall, many of us will have college students and medical students coming through our offices and hospitals looking at options in health care careers. Let’s show them the excitement of careers in internal medicine, subspecialities and hospital medicine not only by showing us as the physician, business, and academic leaders in our fields, but as leaders in promoting good health through our lifestyles. Take those students with you on house calls, on rounds, and then encourage them to go to the gym with you or to go jogging with you. Help them to help us get motivated to help our patients and thus our society take an active role in their health. Let’s practice what we preach.

On another note, I would like to thank your Texas ACP chapter board and executive committee members who are working hard on finding more ways to share the mission and vision of your organization with you. In the coming months, you will be receiving a survey about the Texas chapter of the ACP. We want you to understand the focus of your organization. It is important for all of us to understand where your dues go, how we focus on resident and medical student affairs, how your state’s voice is heard at national leadership day in DC and locally at Austin, and how forming a foundation is designed to help with enhancing the dreams of a healthy Texas. Please take the time to answer the survey so the members you elected to the board and as officers, can carry out your organization’s mission.

Now, let’s go improve the health of Texans and our lives as physicians!

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Governor’s Message

Sue S. Bornstein, MD, FACP
Governor, TX Northern Region

Recently, Robert Jackson, Texas Southern Governor and I visited Longview, Texas to meet with local internists and subspecialists who are ACP and TMA members. Dr. Jackson gave an excellent grand rounds on patient safety to the internal medicine residents and faculty at the Good Shepherd – UT Health Science Center at Tyler program. Parenthetically, I am thrilled that we have this dynamic new residency program in East Texas, a region that has historically had poor health outcomes and chronic shortages of primary care physicians. After grand rounds, we spent the afternoon visiting with physicians in a variety of practice settings.

We met a long-time general internist who works in a small private group practice. He was kind enough to take time out of his very busy schedule to share his concerns about the current and future state of his practice. He told us that at least one insurer requires pre-authorization for even inexpensive generic drugs such as hydrochlorothiazide. In one instance, the non-clinically trained call center employee denied HCTZ because he had Googled it and read that it can deplete electrolytes! Further, this physician’s practice had not yet made the transition to an electronic health record because of concerns over the cost of implementation and loss of productivity that inevitably accompany this change. But he also found that it is difficult for his practice to report on required quality measures because of the lack of an EHR. This has had an adverse impact on revenue and has further eroded morale.

This story is emblematic of the serious issues that physicians are facing in their practices today.  There is rampant uncertainty, dissatisfaction and burnout. Add the new requirements for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) to the mix and the situation is even more disheartening.

A 2011 article in Health Affairs described a survey of physicians and administrators in Ontario, Canada about time spent interacting with payers and compared the results with a national comparison survey in the United States. Physician practices in Ontario spent $22,205 per physician per year interacting with Canada’s single-payer agency – just 27% of the $82,975 per physician per year spent in the United States. Nursing staff, including medical assistants in the US spent 20.6 hours per physician per week interacting with health plans – nearly 10 times their Canadian counterparts. I hasten to add that I am not advocating for a single payer system in our country; rather, I am using the study to draw comparisons.¹

The ACP Board of Regents and the Board of Governors have heard this message clearly.  At the Board of Regents planning retreat in January, the Regents voted to place concerns about MOC and administrative complexity and burdens at the top of the priority list for this year and next. The leadership also recognizes that professional isolation is an increasing issue among physicians.  

As an outcome of the BOR retreat, a survey was sent to a random sample of ACP members and non-members that are practicing physicians who spend more than 50% of their professional time in direct patient care. The survey was sent to 863 panel members (818 ACP members and 45 non-members). The final response rate was 47%.

Respondents were asked to report the percentage of time spent on various practice related activities.  Data reveal that on average 50% of their time is spent on tasks related to their EHRs. This was followed by time for reporting quality measures (16%) and for helping patients get reimbursed by insurance companies (16%).

Not surprisingly, the survey found that many of the tasks negatively impacting the practices involve interaction with health insurance companies. The majority (70%) of survey respondents reported that waiting for authorization from a payer requires additional non-clerical work to be performed by the practice staff in order to deliver care to their patients.

In addition, insuring medications are covered by a patient’s health plan (59%) and waiting for prior authorization from a payer (63%) were identified as being top issues that limit a patient’s ability to access care.

So what can the ACP do to address and move toward resolving these complex, challenging and often vexing issues? A task force charged with developing advocacy priorities as well as priorities for developing tools and resources has been formed. The task force is working this summer and will hold a town hall meeting at the fall Board of Governors meeting in Chicago to gather additional input from practicing physicians.

As physicians we are taught to be skeptical. And I have no doubt that many of you are skeptical about the ACP’s ability to deliver effective solutions to these long-standing problems. The American College of Physicians, now 137,000 members strong, is uniquely positioned to lead the efforts to improve practice for physicians and patients and increase physician satisfaction. Your Texas ACP Governors encourage you to share your experiences, insights and suggestions with us so that together we can move forward together.

¹ Morra D et al. US physician practices versus Canadians: spending nearly four times as much money interacting with payers. Health Affairs, 30, No.8 (2011): 1443-1450.

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2014 Annual Meeting Save the Date

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Call for Awards

Nominate a colleague today for a Texas Chapter Award!

Nominations for the Texas Chapter Laureate, Volunteerism & Community Service, and Advocate of the Year awards are due August 1, 2014. Awards will be presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting in Houston, November 15-16.

Nominations for Chapter awards must include a detailed letter of recommendation and curriculum vitae; additional letters of support are welcome. Nominations are due to the Chapter business office no later than August 1, 2014. More information on Texas Chapter Awards is available online here.

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Students, Residents Call for Abstracts

The call for abstracts will be sent out at the end of July. Please make sure your contact information is up-to-date with the ACP. Residents and medical students are invited to submit new entries that have never been submitted in the past for several competitions during the Texas Chapter of the ACP Annual Meeting November 15-16 in Houston. 

Medical Student Poster Competition: Medical students are invited to submit abstracts of clinical vignettes that have clinical relevance to internal medicine to the 2014 Texas Chapter of the ACP medical students’ poster competition via the medical student abstract submission form on the Texas chapter’s web site.  Research abstracts will not be considered for this year’s meeting. On the submission form, students can indicate whether they want their abstract considered for the poster competition only or for the poster and/or clinical vignette competition.  In order to submit an abstract for either competition, you must be a member of the American College of Physicians.

Resident Poster Competition: Residents are invited to submit abstracts of clinical vignettes and clinical research (not basic science research) that have clinical relevance to internal medicine to the 2014 Texas Chapter of the ACP residents’ poster competition via the resident abstract submission form on the Texas Chapter’s web site.  In order to submit an abstract for either competition, you must be a member of the American College of Physicians. 

On Being a Doctor creative writing competition: Residents and medical students are invited to submit original prose or poetry dedicated to a particular theme. Submissions are limited to 1,000 words or less and must be submitted via the submission form on the Texas Chapter of the ACP web site. 

A panel of physicians will review the submissions, and the winner will be announced in October.  The winning author will be invited to present his or her work in a 10-minute oral reading during the general session at the Annual Meeting. The author will win a trip paid for by the chapter to attend the Texas Chapter of the ACP Annual Meeting in Houston.

2014 Doctor's Dilemma Competition Team Form for the TXACP 2014 Annual Meeting: The competition is much like the TV show Jeopardy.  Questions are presented as answers and teams buzz in to answer the question in the form of a question.  There is a moderator asking the questions and each team has a buzzer so that the team that buzzes in first, has the first chance to answer the question. Checks are awarded to first and second place team members.  The first place team advances to the National ACP competition held in Boston, MA, April 30-May 2, during the ACP Annual Session at IM2015.  Members of the team who advance to the national competition must be Resident ACP members in good standing.  Please contact Becca Lawson in the chapter business office at (512) 370-1463 or e-mail her at rebecca.lawson@texmed.org with questions.

For more information, please visit www.txacp.org in July for further details.

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ACP Regional Competitions Resident Winners
All across the state of Texas, internal medicine residents are hard at work learning, practicing, and teaching medicine. The Texas Chapter of the ACP has the honor of allowing these young physicians to showcase their hard work locally at one of our five Residents’ regional competitions.

This year’s meetings followed in the successful tradition of those of the past. Competition was stiff, participation was high and all of the work was exceptional quality. An enormous amount of time and energy went into the planning of each event. Recognition for the extensive meeting preparation goes to Drs. Patricia Wathen, Michael Morris, and George Crawford  for the Southwest region, Richard Goodgame for the Southeast region, Kenneth Nugent for the Northwest region, Dino Kazi for the Northeast region, and Pedro Blandon for the Far Northwest region. Thank you all for your diligence and hard work.  A special thank you goes out to Dr. Suma Pokala for all of her involvement with these regional events as the Texas Chapter of the ACP Residents Committee Chair.

The Texas Chapter supports the regional Residents’ councils with annual grants of up to $1,000 per Council to help fund their programming. Each regional oral clinical vignette competition winner will receive Chapter support to allow them to travel to Houston, November 15-16, 2014, to represent their region at the Annual Meeting.

Congratulations go to the following regional competition winners!

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For Pete's Sake

By Dr. Young

You asked. We Answered.
For Pete’s sake...I’m having a really hard time balancing everything.  I’m not sure if I can have it all as I’d originally planned.  Any advice on how to create a workable work-life balance?

- Overworked in Odessa

This is a timeless question, likely with a different answer for everyone at different times in their lives.  There will be times when your kids, spouse and hobbies will require more of your time and other times when your critically ill or otherwise demanding patient will require more.  The key to all of this is determining which one is the priority at which time, which is always much harder than it seems like it should be.

This determination requires hard choices such as not taking on that extra committee at work because they meet after hours or letting your spouse take the kids someplace fun without you so that you can catch up on your charts or round on patients on a Saturday morning.  The key is setting boundaries and sticking to them once you have decided what the priority at that time is and perhaps the hardest part is giving yourself permission to not feel guilty for the choices that you made.  I am a personal fan of making lists and prioritizing them and then doing what I need to do to make sure that things are addressed in what I determine to be the correct order.  Sometimes I’ll make a work and a personal list and try to accomplish the top thing on both lists each week.  Some people cut back on hours at work to do this, some people hire people to help them with the tasks that aren’t necessarily their biggest priority and the answer is not universal.

You have to decide what “having it all” is for you and perhaps accept that it’s not the same as having everything you’ve ever wanted at the exact same time.   

If you have questions for the next “For Pete’s Sake…” please email them to ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Becca Lawson at the TXACP Business office at rebecca.lawson@texmed.org or post them to our Facebook Page here.

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Meet Our New GIMSPP Program Coordinator



Laura Tolin has been an association management professional specializing in continuing education and conference management for five years.  She began her career coordinating the annual Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching for the Science Teachers Association of Texas, a continuing education conference serving over 5,000 teachers.  She has also managed the Annual Meeting of the Texas Society of Pathologists, a CME conference for 300 physicians.  Throughout her career, she has also served as a membership coordinator, meeting registrar, in-house designer, and exhibits manager.

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Medical Students Learn from Internists

 GIMSPP SENDS OVER FIFTY STUDENTS TO WORK WITH INTERNAL MEDICINE DOCTORS

The General Internal Medicine Statewide Preceptorship Program (GIMSPP) is curating 56 students this summer to work with 48 Internal Medicine physicians across the state of Texas.  The physician preceptors are all volunteers, recruited each year with the specific intent of getting new medical students interested in pursuing primary care after medical school.  A total of 2,543 students have been matched through GIMSPP since its inception in 1995.

The GIMSPP places medical students with General Internists across the state for two, three or four-week preceptorships during the student’s summer break. Students from Texas medical schools that are in their first and second year of medical school participate in the program.  They receive one-on-one experience in the clinical, administrative, and patient communication realms of practicing medicine.  

The program was funded in previous years by a state grant to advance primary care in Texas. That funding was cut completely in 2011.  The program is now curated by the Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians (TXACP), with the purpose of supporting educational and scientific activities and encouraging students to consider careers in Internal Medicine.  Donations for the program are being accepted through the TXACP Foundation, and new grant opportunities are also being pursued.

“This program works,” says Dr. Eugene Stokes, Co-Chair of the Medical Student Committee and GIMSPP Advisory Council for TXACP.  “The percentage of students pursuing Internal Medicine because of their experience in the GIMSPP is around 36%, which is higher than the national average.  The numbers don’t lie, and neither do the students who offer consistently positive feedback.”

If you wish to serve as a preceptor for 2015, please contact GIMSPP Coordinator, Laura Tolin at Laura.Tolin@texmed.org or visit the GIMSPP webpage for more information.

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Thank You to All of Our Summer 2014 Preceptors

The General Internal Medicine Statewide Preceptorship Program would like to thank all of the physicians that served as preceptors for medical students this summer. Their dedication to the program, the students and to internal medicine is greatly appreciated. To learm more about the Preceptoship Program please read more here or contact Program Coordinator Laura Tolin at laura.tolin@texmed.org.

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Leadership Day 2014
Lechauncy D. Woodard, MD, FACP
TXACP Services President

“All politics is local,”

For the twenty-second year, Internists from across the country traveled to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC to represent the American College of Physicians and seek support on the key priorities of the college.

Following a day of advocacy workshops, twelve of your colleagues represented the Texas Chapter of the ACP Services, meeting with state congressional leaders  to share their stories and yours.  

The priorities of the college this year included issues related to workforce, payment and delivery system reform:

• Enact Legislation to Eliminate Medicare’s Physician Payment System, as Agreed Upon by Medicare Committees
• Extend Expiring Medicaid Payment Policy for Primary Care Services through at least 2016
• Reform and Sustain Graduate Medical Education (GME) Financing; Re-align the Program with the Nation’s Workforce Needs
• Ensure Sufficient Funding for Federal Health Care Workforce Programs
• Enact Bipartisan Medical Liability “Safe Harbor” Legislation and Initiate a Pilot on Health Courts

If you have an interest in advocacy and or healthcare policy, I strongly encourage you to consider joining your Texas Chapter delegation in these efforts both in Washington, DC and at our state Capitol during TMA’s First Tuesdays held during the Texas legislative session.

We were excited to be joined in our Leadership Day efforts by Resident and Medical Student members who shared the following testimonials:

“I felt that our efforts to discuss meaningful healthcare policy change were well received and though a commitment to initiate change was met some hesitation, it appeared that the congressional offices, both Republican and Democratic, all agreed that change was necessary.” -  Ricardo Badillo, MD

“The ACP staff did a good job of providing an introduction on how to initiate the conversation to the staff or legislators,” …”As a delegation, we need to be ready to give them stories about their district. The staff…needed that connection.” -  William McKee, MD

“If there was one word to describe my first experience with Leadership Day, it would have to be eye-opening.” -  Ashley Liou, Medical Student

In addition to their Leadership Day activities, several resident members in Texas hosted their own mini-Internal Medicine Day at the Capitol this past spring to discuss GME funding and the Texas primary care workforce with state legislators. We ask that you join us in efforts to enact legislation on behalf of your patients and colleagues. Our organization is stronger when we work collectively to shape the future of medicine in Texas.

For more information on how you may get involved in Leadership Day, how to become an Advocate for Internal Medicine through ACP or Texas-specific advocacy efforts with TXACP Services, please contact our Texas Chapter office at 512-370-1508.

Click here to see photos from Leadership Day 2014 on our Facebook Page!

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ACP Advocacy Priorities for 2014

Permanent Repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR)
ACP will be working to advance its priorities with the three committees having jurisdiction over Medicare payment policy as they develop what will be a final reconciled SGR-repeal bill. The intent is to have a comprehensive SGR-repeal bill enacted into law as soon as possible in 2014, though no later than March 31, 2014, when the current SGR-patch expires.

Extending Medicaid Pay Parity
Current law states that physician payments for primary care services under Medicaid must be equal to those under Medicare in 2013 and 2014. With this provision of law expiring at the end of 2014, ACP will advocate for an extension of at least two years.

Ensuring Successful Implementation of Key Components of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Implementation of the ACA will continue in 2014, including insurance coverage under the health care exchanges that began on January 1 and, on the state level, more states choosing to expand their Medicaid programs to cover more of the poor and near-poor. ACP will continue to advocate for successful implementation of these and other key provisions in the law, as well as address “nuts-and-bolts” implementation issues that directly affect physicians and their patients—such as narrow provider networks and restrictive drug formularies in some of the marketplace plans.

Supporting Vital Health Programs through Appropriations
Across-the-board sequester cuts in 2013 had a devastating impact on federal healthcare programs, including federal health workforce programs, medical research and public health programs. The bipartisan budget agreement, as enacted in December 2013, provides some much-needed respite from sequestration. Going forward, ACP will urge congressional appropriators to prioritize funding for the nation’s health care workforce in the Title VII Health Professions program, medical research at the National Institutes of Health, public health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.

Advancing Medical Liability Reforms
ACP will continue working with key policymakers to advance meaningful medical liability reforms, including introduction of legislation based on ACP’s framework which would authorize a national pilot of health courts.

Addressing Administrative Complexities
ACP has long identified reducing administrative hassles and complexities as an important objective and while some incremental progress has been made in providing relief, administrative burden continues to be a significant challenge for practices. ACP’s campaign, which is expected to launch in the Spring of 2014, will educate policy makers, as well as ACP members, other physicians, and consumer advocates, on what makes up administrative challenges and why they are not all created equal—and will involve an advocacy effort to help mitigate or eliminate the top priority challenges that are identified.

Extending the Primary Care Incentive Program
Current law provides a 10 percent bonus payment, in addition to the usual Medicare fee schedule amount, for designated primary care services provided by internists, family physicians, geriatricians and pediatricians for calendar years 2011 through 2015. In order to qualify for the bonus, at least 60 percent of Medicare allowed charges of these physicians must consist of the designated primary care services: office, nursing facility, domiciliary, and home services. This important provision of law begins to address disparities in payments that are major barriers to physicians entering and remaining in primary care specialties. ACP will take necessary steps this year to ensure that lawmakers are fully aware of the importance of extending this program beyond its 2015 expiration date.

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MOC Update From ACP

Changes for 2014
ABIM has announced changes to the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process for board certified internal medicine specialists and subspecialists, effective January 2014.

Beginning in 2014, ABIM will report two credentials for board-certified internists: whether you are Board Certified, and whether you are Meeting MOC Requirements. If you are not sure how the changes will affect you, check out the details at the ABIM website.

Understanding ABIM's MOC Requirements
The ABIM MOC requirements vary slightly depending on when your current internal medicine or subspecialty certification expires. Keep in mind that the same MOC points can apply to each certificate you renew; for example, internal medicine and a subspecialty certificate. In other words, you only need to earn 100 points no matter how many certificates you renew.

What is ACP's role vs. that of the ABIM?
ABIM is an independent organization and its certification programs adhere to common standards established by the American Board of Medical Specialties. ACP recognizes the medical profession's responsibility to ensure quality medical care and supports the concept of lifelong learning and professional accountability. ACP believes that methods of internal medicine recertification should be relevant to a variety of practice settings, not redundant, and accommodate different learning styles and be sensitive to cost and time. However, ACP does not review, edit, comment or vote on certification or recertification requirements promulgated by the ABIM. Given our commitment to lifelong learning and high quality care, we strive to assure that ACP members understand the requirements of Maintenance of Certification and have access to effective education to help them with certification and MOC requirements.

Once you've enrolled in the ABIM's Maintenance of Certification program, you can turn to ACP for help earning the required points and preparing thoroughly for the internal medicine recertification exam. You're in good company when you use our reliable resources. Many internists report that they found the MOC process more fulfilling when they used our resources to earn points and keep up to date.

Earn ABIM MOC Points with ACP

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CMS Offering:Family Practice and Internal Medicine ICD-10 Coding Webinar available June 17
     
ICD-10 Documentation and Coding Concepts

An AHIMA-certified coder presents training focused on unique ICD-10 clinical documentation needs and hot topics for each medical specialty. The five webinars will follow the same outline and objectives catering to each medical specialty with specific examples.

• Physician Perspective/clinical impact of ICD-10
• Documentation requirements for certain conditions
• Documentation changes and new concepts
• Use of “unspecified” in ICD-10

Fanily Practice and Internal Medicine coming June 17. Please click here for more information.

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Congratulations to our Newest Fellows

Fellowship recognizes personal integrity, superior competence in internal medicine, professional accomplishment, and demonstrated scholarship.

Advancement to Fellowship applications are available:
•    At the ACP Web site
•    From the ACP Customer Service Department at (800) 523-1546, ext. 2600
•    By e-mail

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Welcome New Members

We are proud to welcome the following members who have joined the Chapter during the past 3 months:

SGT Sherwin F. Attai, Waco
Sahar Avestimehr, MD, San Antonio
Christopher Sunday Ayeni, MD, Houston
Sharon P Balcells, MD, Temple
Daryl K Daniel, MD, Missouri City
Shounak Das, MD, Fairview
Anne Dempsey, MD, Austin
Christopher M Farmer, MD, Georgetown
Rashmi Jaitly, MD, Houston
Shaun E Jang, MD, McAllen
Jeffrey W Jundt, MD, Killeen
Paul A O'Leary, MD, Houston
Ashvin Patel, MD, Wichita Falls
Jennifer S Retzloff, MD, San Antonio
Ofelia Rodriguez, MD, Mc Allen
Raul M Sanchez Leon, MD, Spring
Emily Sandbach, MD, Austin
Richa Sharma, MD, Irving
Michael T Shoffeitt, MD, San Antonio
Ariel D Szvalb, MD, Houston
Heriberto A Tejeda, MD MPH, Corpus Christi
Javier Vasallo, MD, El Paso
 

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ACP Recruit-a-Colleague Program

Recommend ACP membership to your colleagues and earn a significant discount on your membership dues or even free membership. Now you have the opportunity to provide your colleagues with the same clinical support and educational resources that you have enjoyed as an ACP member. READ MORE

ACP Member Benefit Highlights Flyer
 

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Member Kudos

ACP bestows the John Tooker Evergreen Award on the Texas Chapter in honor of collaborative efforts of the chapter with: 'The Stakes For Success in Anchoring the Big Tent in Texas' at the Annual Chapter Awards Luncheon in Orlando!

Sue Bornstein, MD, FACP, was elected to represent Texas Physicians as an Alternate Delegate to the AMA. Read press release here.

Roxanne M. Tyroch, MD, FACP was elected Alternate Delegate to the AMA. Read press release here.

Cynthia A. Jumper, MD, MPH, FACP, was elected alternate for American Medical Association House of Delegates annual conference.  Read press release here

E. Linda Villarreal, MD, was reelected to TMA's Board of Trustees. Read press release here.

Antonio M. Gotto Jr., MD, DPHIL, MACP, was awarded Mastership in the ACP.

Clark R. Gregg, MD, MACP, was awarded Mastership in the ACP.

Jerald Winakur, MD, MACP, Comfort, was awarded Mastership in the ACP.

Antonio M. Gotto, MD, DPHIL, MACP, Galveston, was recognized as the recipient of the John Phillips Memorial Award for Outstanding Work in Clinical Medicine

Angela A. Shippy, MD was named by Memorial Hermann Health System as its new chief quality officer. Dr. Shippy began her career as a physician executive at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. 

Special Thanks to Karen Szauter, MD, FACP, Medical Students Co-Chair, who presented GIMSPP studies including evaluations, match trends and participation of medical students to two groups: the Southern Group on Educational Affairs and Central Group on Educational Affairs.

Send news of your accomplishments, or that of a colleague, to: Becca Lawson, TXACP Staff, 401 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701; fax to (512) 370-1635; or e-mail to Becca Lawson.

Thank you for being a member of the ACP.

For more information on the Texas Chapter of the ACP activities, news and photos, join us on Facebook.

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