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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