The 2015 Texas Legislature is now one for the books. Some bills passing will be a huge benefit to physicians in Texas, some of the bills are just okay and sadly others never seemed to make it off the ground floor. One of the best bills adds significant funding for GME – with new medical schools in Texas coming online very soon the only way to keep those Texas educated docs in the state was to increase funding and luckily the legislature agreed. Another plus will happen in September 2016 when the DPS Controlled Substance registration will go bye bye. I am sure that everyone will agree that it takes long enough to get a state license and then to have to wait on the DPS registration was just a bit much. See Senate Bill 195 for more info. On the not so okay side the bills to establish an interstate compact much like the nurses made it out of the House but never saw daylight in the Senate – this would have been a huge plus for physicians who are more mobile than ever. And once again the session saw an exam attempts bill presented only to meet its death.
For TMAs synopsis of the session go to this link http://www.texmed.org/Template.aspx?id=33799#sthash.9NcSnMm1