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BCMS LEGISLATIVE
NEWS

APRIL FIRST TUESDAYS

A HUGE SUCCESS

Many thanks to all the BCMS members, Al-
liance members and medical students who at-
tended the April First Tuesdays visit to the
Capitol on April 2. Attendees included: Physi-
cians – David Henkes, MD; Jim Humphreys,
MD; Alex Kenton, MD; Sanjiv Kumar, MD;
John Nava, MD; BCMS President Adam Ratner,
MD; Ninza Sanchez, MD; Jayesh Shah, MD;
John Shepherd, MD; and Zeke Silva, MD. Al-
liance members in attendance, were: Danielle
Henkes and Jenny Shepherd.
In addition, the following medical students
from UT Health and UIW School of Medicine
(UIWSOM) attended and joined the physicians
and Alliance members on visits with the Bexar
County legislators and their staffs. From UT
Health – Phil Acosta; Nnamdi Akabogu; Scott
Anderson; Daniel Carlisle; Jessica Davis; Trevor
Dickey; Jasmine Gill; John Hintz; Glory
Hughes; Frank Jing; Samiya Khan; Swetha Mad-
dipudi; Rishi Malhotra; Sharon Mathai; Jen
Nordhauser; Sid Pradeep; Irma Ruiz; Ahmed
Shoola; Sabi Shrestha; Vanessa Trivino; Ryan
Wealther; David Wilcox; Chelsea Wu and from
UIWSOM – Sara Buckley, Jessica Gale; and
Marc Ghosn.
At the time of this writing, there are just over
50 days left in the 140-day legislative session.
Many of medicine’s bills are moving through the
process and a number of topics were covered
during the First Tuesdays visits, including: Med-
icaid; state budget; mental health; surprise billing;
pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs); prior au-
thorizations; scope of practice; vaccinations; and
Tobacco 21.

For local discussion on these and other
legislative advocacy topics, consider joining
the BCMS Legislative and Socioeconomics 1. Jim Humphreys, MD (in dark jacket) leads a group of physicians and medical students during the April First Tuesdays visit
Committee by contacting Mary Nava, chief to the Capitol. Here, they visit with Rep. Ray Lopez (District 125 – in white shirt). 2. On April 2, Armando Vendrell-Velez,
legislative assistant in the office of Sen. Pete Flores (District 19) visited with BCMS First Tuesdays attendees (l-r): John Shep-
government affairs officer at herd, MD; Vendrell-Velez; UIW medical student, Marc Ghosn; John Nava, MD and BCMS Alliance member, Jenny Shepherd.
3. Rep. Leo Pacheco (District 118) listens as Jim Humphreys, MD and medical students discuss issues of importance to med-
mary.nava@bms.org. icine during the April 2 First Tuesdays visit to the Capitol. 4. BCMS physicians and medical students pause for a photo with
Alec Mendoza, legislative staffer in the office of Sen. Jose Menendez (District 26) during the April 2 First Tuesdays visit to
the Capitol. 5. Rep. Roland Gutierrez (District 119 – center) visits with BCMS physicians, Alliance members and medical
students during the April 2 First Tuesdays visit to the Capitol. 6. During the April First Tuesdays, physician members from
Travis and Bexar CMS met with Addison Reagan, policy analyst in the office of Sen. Donna Campbell (District 25).
10 San Antonio Medicine • May 2019