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BCMS
LEGISLATIVE NEWS
TOP: Mayor Ivy Taylor (in orange suit) addresses attendees at a
reception held in her honor on Oct. 11 at the home of Drs. Leah
Gross and Zach Stinson.
BOTTOM: (l-r) Dr. Buddy Swift, event host; Sen. Donna
Campbell (District 25); and Dr. Alex Kenton visit during a TEX-
PAC-sponsored event honoring Sen. Campbell on Oct. 12 at the
home of Dr. Buddy and Kathy Swift.
Mark your calendars now to join us for the
First Tuesdays visits to the Capitol on Feb. 7,
March 7, April 4 and May 2, 2017. To register,
go to www.texmed.org/firsttuesdays.
BCMS LEGISLATIVE AND SOCIOECONOMICS COMMITTEE –
YEAR IN REVIEW 2016
by Mary E. Nava, MBA, chief government affairs officer
With 2016 being an election year, and with the 85th Legislative Ses- • Organized CME presentation with the TMB to discuss legisla-
sion beginning in January, physician members of the BCMS Leg- tive updates during the 84th legislative session, in addition to
islative and Socioeconomics Committee, led by chairman, Alex the role and process of the TMB
Kenton, MD and co-chairman, Ashok Kumar, MD, were busy all
year long visiting with our elected officials during monthly meetings • Participated in numerous media interviews on various advocacy
of this committee to discuss medicine’s issues; assisting TEXPAC topics, including: Zika, TMB and vaccine safety
with candidate visits; attending and/or hosting legislative receptions
and also participating in media interviews on various advocacy top- • Developed a strategic plan to establish committee goals and ac-
ics. The following is a re-cap of this year’s activities: tivities, to include: development and recruitment of physician
key contacts by legislative district
• Participated in over 20 legislative meetings and events, includ-
ing several TEXPAC-sponsored receptions with elected officials For local discussion on these and other legislative
advocacy topics, consider joining the BCMS Leg-
• Participated in several calls to action to advise federal and state islative and Socioeconomics Committee by contact-
agencies on medicine’s position on topics such as MACRA pro- ing Mary Nava at mary.nava@bcms.org.
posed rules, TMB proposed rules and scope concerns in the VA
system visit us at www.bcms.org 33
