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87TH LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP                                                                                                                                                                                 87TH LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP








         Medical Student Issues and Perspectives

         in the 87th Legislative Session



         By Ryan Wealther and Swetha Maddipudi


          Now that the dust has settled and the Texas Legislative Session   that the state of Texas has generously awarded me, and I’m happy   our conversations with legislators, making sure we represented the   at the Texas Medical Association, for providing essential informa-
        has ended, we can unpack what the session had in store for medical   Texas has decided to continue investing in medical education for fu-  medical student community at our school to the best of our ability.   tion to this article.
        students. At the forefront of many of our medical student minds   ture students.”                                        This was a part of the inspiration for a new briefs project we helped
        was funding for residency positions through the state’s Graduate   Medical students faced some disappointing news in the state   to create as leaders of the TMA Medical Student Section (MSS) Ex-  References:
        Medical Education (GME) Expansion Grant Program. Many Texas   budget as well. The budget sustained cuts to loan repayment pro-  ecutive Council.                               1. Association of American Medical Colleges. (2019). 2019 State
        medical students want to stay in Texas for residency, but if there are   grams, family practice residency programs and the statewide primary   Over the past year, we mobilized MSS members who were inter-  Physician Workforce Data Report (pp. 8, 13). Association of
        not enough spots for Texas medical students to complete residency   care preceptorship programs. These budget cuts have resulted in de-  ested in writing about topics that were advocacy focused. We specif-  American Medical Colleges. https://store.aamc.org/download-
        in Texas, students are forced to leave. What is concerning about this   creased opportunities for students interested in primary care, which   ically called upon some of the authorship teams to pen briefs on   able/download/sample/sample_id/305/
        is Texas-educated physicians are about 30% less likely to practice in   is troubling because Texas is ranked number 47 out of 50 in primary   topics we knew would come up during First Tuesdays. Two of the   2. Price, S. (2021, June 23). Physician-Led Results: Lawmakers In-
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        Texas if they complete their residency out of state.  According to   care physicians per capita. The statewide primary care preceptorship   six briefs published in the first iteration of this project focused on   vest in Texas’ Future Physicians. Texas Medicine Today.

        the most recent State Physician Workforce Data Report by the As-  programs, which match medical students to primary care physicians,   TMA’s legislative priorities, immunizations and Medicaid expan-  https://www.texmed.org/TexasMedicineDetail.aspx?id=57194
        sociation of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Texas is ranked   provide early primary care experiences to students during a forma-  sion, and specifically focused on explaining important advocacy   3. Satyanarayana, M. (2017, October 30). Med school on the
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        number 41 out of 50 in the country for physicians per capita.  For-  tive phase of their training. Similarly, the promises of loan repay-  points in a digestible way for medical students. Our medical student   cheap: Why becoming a doctor in Texas is a bargain. The Texas
        tunately, Texas’ final budget allocated enough money to GME to   ment for primary care practitioners can serve as an added motivator   members used these briefs to develop their own talking points and   Tribune.  https://www.texastribune.org/2017/10/30/med-
        maintain the 1.1 ratio of first-year residency slots for every medical   for students leaning towards choosing a primary-care-oriented spe-  anecdotes they could then share with legislators. By providing med-  school-cheap-why-becoming-doctor-texas-bargain/
        school graduate, which will help retain medical students in the state   cialty. Having cuts to the training pathway is disappointing for many   ical students with data-driven briefs, they were able to identify
        of Texas.                                              of our students, as it increases the difficulty of matching into a pri-  points for implementing new policies and provided both trainee and   Ryan Wealther is a fourth-year medical student at the
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          The Texas state budget also allocated $385 million for medical   mary care specialty.                                  clinical perspectives during discussions.                      UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine. He cur-
        student education; this adds up to about $45,000 per student per   The preceptorship program was especially influential to UTHSA   Rishi Gonuguntla, a second-year medical student at UTHSA   rently serves as Chair of the Texas Medical Association
        year of medical education.  This generous allocation to medical ed-  LSOM fourth-year medical student, Christi Jackson. "I had never   LSOM and President of the school’s TMA Chapter, also partici-  Medical Student Section.
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        ucation keeps Texas public medical schools amongst the most af-  considered a career in primary care upon entering medical school.   pated in First Tuesdays and has reflected on his experience. “As a
        fordable medical schools in the nation, which helps retain talented   Towards the end of my first year, I saw a flyer about the Texas Family   first-year medical student, I was excited to attend First Tuesdays, al-  Swetha Maddipudi is a fourth-year MD/MPH student
        pre-medical students in Texas and attracts talent from out of state   Medicine Preceptorship Program and applied, thinking it would be   though I was unsure what that would entail. Although I’d only in-  at the UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine
        to attend Texas medical schools.  It also allows Texas medical school   a great way to get some early clinical exposure while also earning   tended to watch and learn, I quickly found myself an active   and serves as the student representative to the TMA Board
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        graduates to keep their overall debt burden low.       some money. I didn’t anticipate enjoying my experience so much    participant. During my first meeting, I was encouraged by the other   of Trustees.
          Audrey Phan, a fourth-year medical student at the UT Health   that I am now applying to family medicine residency programs   physicians to talk about how expanding GME funding would affect
        San Antonio Long School of Medicine (UTHSA LSOM) and Illi-  solely in the state of Texas. Texas needs more medical students in-  me as a medical student. Being able to advocate for myself and my
        nois native, was excited to hear the state decided to continue pro-  terested in pursuing a future in primary care."     peers to a legislator who had the ability to enact change was a pow-
        viding generous funding for medical education. “Growing up with   These were just some of the issues in the legislative session we, as   erful experience. When I discovered Texas did expand GME fund-
        a low socioeconomic background and dreams of becoming an ob-  medical students, witnessed. However, medical students were more   ing, I felt I had contributed to a tangible difference in the world
        stetrician-gynecologist, the financial barriers to a medical education   than just casual bystanders in the legislative session−we actively par-  during my first year of medical school. Participating in First Tues-
        seemed nearly insurmountable until I found UT Health San Anto-  ticipated in First Tuesdays. Medical students have long been in-  days is one of the best experiences I have had in the field of medicine,
        nio. With high standards of education and exceptionally affordable   volved in First Tuesdays with the Texas Medical Association   and I look forward to participating again in the future!”
        tuition, there was no question in my mind that I would make the   (TMA). For many, this event has served as a foundational experi-
        journey across the country to come to medical school in Texas.   ence in understanding how impactful conversations with legislators   Acknowledgements:
        Being here has allowed me the opportunity to not only become a   can lead to better health care for Texans. When we (the authors)   Thank you to the quoted students from the UT Health San An-
        physician, but also leave medical school with financial security in-  first attended a session as first-year medical students, our chapter   tonio Long School of Medicine for providing their perspectives and
        stead of burdening debt. I couldn’t be more grateful for the future   put together our own internal briefings and talking points to guide   to Marcia Collins, Associate Vice President for Medical Education



         26     SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE  • August 2021                                                                                                                                                                  Visit us at www.bcms.org     27
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