Everything you need to open your own practice!

The TMA's New to Texas Resource Page is the only tool you will need to get your practice up and running. While it is designed for the "transplant" physician, anyone looking to start his or her own practice will benefit from this everything-you-need-in-one-place resource. The page lists websites, forms, phone numbers, and recommended guidelines.

You can also contact the Dallas County Medical Society for specific help in the local markets.

IHI Annual Summit Comes to Dallas March 30 - April 1

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is holding its 9th Annual International Summit on Redesigning the Clinical Office Practice in Dallas this year at the end of March. Attendees will be able to choose from full day minicourses, workshops, and general conference sessions including two keynote presentations.

The main target audiences for the conference are physicians and their management staff. If you enroll before February 15th, you can save $100 off the $895 General Conference price tag.

Browse the brochure and view a list of session courses with descriptions below. The main website for the event can be found here.

Read: Event Brochure
Read: Session Descriptions

TMA Defends Punitive Damages Cap in Court

In 2003, the state legislature made Texas one the most attractive states to practice medicine in by passing medical liability reforms limiting punitive damages to $250,000. Last Friday (the 8th for those not looking at their calendar), TMA joined the Texas Alliance for Patients Accesss (TAPA), the Texas Hospital Association (THA), and John McKeever, MD, in a fight to uphold the cap on non-economic damages which is being challenged as unconstitutional. This case is part of a liability lawsuit filed against Dr. McKeever, an orthopedic surgeon in Corpus Christi, back in July of 2007.

According to the TMA, the lawsuit "alleges that the cap provided in Section 74.301 is unconstitutional under various provisions of the Texas Constitution, including those relating to equal protection, open courts, due course of law, separation of legislative and judicial powers, local or special law, jury trial, and the constitutional amendment pertaining to legislative limitation on certain damages."

More information will be provided when available.

Physicians Needed for 2008 Annual Science Fair

Remember when you were younger and you entered a science fair project each year in your school district’s annual science fair? Each year, thousands of local Middle and High School students compete to qualify for Dallas’ Regional Science Fair, where judges and competitors gather to review and exhibit some of the best Dallas-area science projects. Many of the students participating in the event may very well be our physicians of tomorrow! For over twenty years, the Dallas County Medical Society has participated in the Regional Science Fair by providing physicians to judge the Senior Medicine and Health category sponsored by DCMS.

Physicians are needed from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 29, to judge entries in the Senior Medicine and Health category of the 2008 Beal Bank Dallas Regional Science & Engineering Fair at Fair Park. Last year, more than 750 projects and over 900 students qualified for the fair. All competitors already have excelled at their school and/or district levels.

If you are interested in being a judge, please contact Connie Webster, DCMS director of community health/Project Access Dallas, at 214-413-1426 or connie@dallas-cms.org.