Visits with our
Congressional officials continue
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith meets with BCMS physicians
By Mary E. Nava, MBA
Chief Governmental and Community Relations
Officer
BCMS physician members welcomed U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith
(Texas Congressional District 25) on April 22 for a meeting to
discuss the recent SGR patch and to hear from the congressman about
other issues of interest to physicians.
On SGR, the congressman stated basically that these
are tough budget times, adding that just recently the Congressional
Budget Office revised its estimate of the cost of a permanent fix
to SGR from $150 billion to $180 billion.
On the issue of medical liability, Smith said there is
a bill in the works, but it has not been introduced at this
time. Smith agreed we should replicate at the federal
level what we did in 2003 at the state level and place caps on
medical liability.
Smith encouraged the doctors to also have a presence
in Washington, DC, explaining the importance of being visible on
the Hill and visiting congressional offices on medicine's issues.
Many thanks to the physicians and
staff who attended: Michael Battista, MD; Pam Hall, MD; James
Humphreys, MD; Alex Kenton, MD; Ashok Kumar, MD; Rodolfo Molina,
MD; Jesse Moss Jr., MD; Mark Nelson, MD; Virginia Pittman-Waller,
MD; Bernard Swift Jr., MD; Ryan Van Ramshorst, MD; J.J. Waller, MD;
Robert Weiss, MD; Dorothy Jo Weiss, practice manager; and Steve
Fitzer, BCMS CEO/Executive Director.
For local discussion on this and other advocacy
topics, consider joining the BCMS Legislative and Socioeconomics
Committee by contacting Mary Nava.
PHOTO: James
Humphreys, MD, chair of the BCMS Legislative and Socioeconomics
Committee (middle), and Ashok Kumar, MD, BCMS President (right),
listen to Congressman Lamar Smith during a meeting April 22.
