Page 14 - 0515_SAM_FINAL

BCMS LEGISLATIVE AND First Tuesdays attendees
ADVOCACY NEWS from BCMS paused for a
photo with the state Capitol
APRIL in the background: (front
row, from left) Gabriel Ortiz,
FIRST TUESDAYS MD; Jennifer Lewis; Mary
AT THE CAPITOL Nava; Maria Tiamson-Beato,
A BIG HIT MD; Jayesh Shah, MD;
(back row, from left) Pam
By Mary E. Nava, MBA Hall, MD; Michael Guirl,
BCMS Chief Governmental and MD; and Alex Kenton, MD.
Community Relations Officer
BCMS physicians discussed medicine’s bills with Juan Estrada (seated at
A large contingency of physicians, medical stu- desk), legislative aide in the office of Rep. Joe Farias (Dist. 118), on April 7.
dents and Alliance members from around the state Physicians (from left) are Pam Hall, MD; Maria Tiamson-Beato, MD; Alex
met April 7 in Austin to participate in the April Kenton, MD; and Gabriel Ortiz, MD.
First Tuesdays visit to the Capitol. With a multi-
tude of bills making their way through the process, Visiting with Heather Fleming (in blue jacket), legislative policy director in
a number of medicine’s issues were discussed, in- the office of Speaker Joe Straus, on April 7 were (from left) Alex Kenton, MD;
cluding: occupations tax; preferred provider ben- David Henkes, MD; Danielle Henkes and Gabriel Ortiz, MD.
efit plans and exclusive provider organizations;
ACA exchange plans ID cards; vaccinations and
ImmTrac registry; state budget; Medicaid pay-
ments; GME and residency slots; ER temporary
holds; EpiPens in schools; insurance issues;
telemedicine; scope of practice and end-of-life care.

Many thanks to the following participants:
BCMS Board Treasurer Maria “Maggie” Tiamson-
Beato, MD; Michael Guirl, MD; Pam Hall, MD;
TMA Board of Trustees member David Henkes,
MD; Alex Kenton, MD; Gabriel Ortiz, MD;
BCMS president-elect Jayesh Shah, MD; David
Shulman, MD; Ryan Van Ramshorst, MD; and
Alliance members Jun Beato, MD; Danielle
Henkes and Alliance president-elect Jennifer
Lewis. There were approximately 15 medical stu-
dents from San Antonio in attendance who partic-
ipated in separate meetings with TMA and
legislators.

The last First Tuesdays visit is May 5. If you are
interested in participating, please visit the TMA
website at www.texmed.org to register.

For local discussion on this and other advocacy
topics, consider joining the BCMS Legislative
and Socioeconomics Committee by contacting
Mary Nava at mary.nava@bcms.org.

14 San Antonio Medicine • May 2015