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BCMS is a Family of Organizations George Cupples, MD
First BCMS President
The Bexar County Medical Society (BCMS) is a 501(c)(6) company that is the mem-
bership organization for physicians practicing in Bexar County or a contiguous county
that focuses on physicians and patient care. Physicians go to medical school to learn
how to help patients become and stay well, and are driven by the Hippocratic Oath,
“Physician, do no harm.” BCMS helps all physicians understand the commonalities of
their practices and helps them deal collectively with significant issues. Physician
committees, conferences, seminars, continuing medical education and mediations
help physicians learn, share and be ready. Physicians educate their patients and the
public through health fairs, speeches to community groups, involvement in communi-
ty initiatives and similar activities. The administrative burdens of practicing medicine
are shared by BCMS members in knowing how to effectively interact with federal and
state governments, insurance companies, and in managing the business aspects of
medicine. BCMS also assists physicians coming together to meet the needs of the
community in emergency situations such as natural disasters, pandemics, exotic-dis-
ease management and threats involving radiation or toxic chemicals. This is the
fundamental purpose of organized medicine – to enable physicians to carry out their
mission of patient care and public health.

A subsidiary of BCMS is the Bexar County Medical Library Association. This organiza- Original 1853 TMA Proclamation
tion began many decades ago as a way for physicians to share their educational formally establishing BCMS
materials at a time when the academic aspects of medicine were communicated via
books, magazines and journals. Physicians created a common library where they
would meet to research and discuss medical subjects and patient problems. This led
to the need for a building to be rented, and eventually purchased, to house all of the
materials and enable physicians to meet, do training and have social functions. That
is when the Bexar County Medical Library Association became a 501(c)(3) that served
as an entity to share information and provide a place for physicians to meet. This is
the same 501(c)(3) company that will be the owner of the new building that is being
built.

The BCMS Alliance is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that is made up of the Lexington & St. Mary’s
spouses of the physician members of the Bexar County Medical Society. The Alliance W. French Place
supports civic, philanthropic and health projects in our community. The BCMS
Alliance also works closely with the Texas Medical Association Alliance.
The Bexar County Medical Society also created a Foundation benefiting the commu-
nity by providing scholarships to high school students that encourage them to study
some aspect of medicine and to embark on careers involving the delivery of health-
care. The mission of the BCMS Foundation is to “provide a caring and charitable
community presence, assist in providing scholarships to those entering the health/-
medical field and public education programs, expand the international sharing of
medical knowledge and research, and to support the BCMS and Alliance’s education-
al and philanthropic efforts.”