Report
from TAFP’s Interim Session

TAFP held another productive and efficient series of committee and commission meetings at this year’s Interim Session, culminating in the biannual meeting of the Academy’s Board of Directors. TAFP’s committee/commission structure allows interested physicians the opportunity to participate in lively small group discussions focused on specific areas of concern. All members are encouraged to attend meetings and participate.

The Legislature being in mid-session meant legislative policy was the hot topic at this year’s Interim Session. TAFP legislative staff told members of a number of committees that the Academy’s partnership with the Texas Pediatric Society and the Texas Academy of Internal Medicine Services — the three groups comprising the Texas Primary Care Coalition — continues to be an effective collaboration, making the voice of primary care stronger in the Capitol and within TMA. This is especially important in the current debate over what type of Medicaid delivery system the state’s urban areas will have. Read more about this debate in this issue’s Legislative Update.

Speaking of partnerships, the Board of Directors approved that the Academy re-initiate its membership in the Texas Alliance for Patient Access, a broad spectrum of organizations banded together by their dedication to protecting the medical liability reforms gained during the 2003 legislative session.

The Commission on Health Care Services and Managed Care formed a tax work group to provide insight on the effect specific tax proposals could have on the practice of family medicine and to explore credit options to offset proposed tax liability.

At the commission’s suggestion, the Board approved a resolution to AAFP stressing the importance of including language about patient incentives in the AAFP pay-for-performance policy.

The commission also recommended that the Academy investigate the implementation of “smart card” technology, the idea being that insurance companies could provide patients with swipe cards containing their demographic information and their covered benefits so all of this information would be available at the point of service.

Members in many commission meetings voiced concerns about the ABFM’s Maintenance of Certification Program. TAFP will investigate ways that the Academy can assist members with the process, including the much-maligned Self Assessment Modules.

Several suggestions for CME topics at future conferences came before the Board from various commissions, including presentations on health savings accounts and possible office-based procedure workshops. It was also decided that TAFP staff should begin building a database of members competent and willing to teach their colleagues office-based procedures.

Jared Brinker of Lubbock watches as his schoolmate Joseph Magley is casted and splinted in a demonstration by Darin Charles, M.D., of the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler.

Some commissions noted the need to increase participation of TAFP members in practice-based research networks, like the Statewide Primary Care Ambulatory Research and Resource Consortium. The Board approved a $10,000 expenditure in the form of a grant to conduct a survey of Texas hospitals to determine the number and type of maternity providers in the state.

The Board also approved a plan for a statewide public relations and accident awareness campaign scheduled for May, which is National Bicycle Safety Month. Academy staff will recruit members to take part in the TMA Foundation’s Hard Hats for Little Heads, a program through which physicians host bicycle safety events where they distribute safety helmets to children in the community. TAFP will cover the cost of half of the helmets distributed and the TMA Foundation takes care of the other half. The hope is that this campaign can be a model for a series of public service events designed to increase public awareness of family medicine while doing good in the community.

The TAFP Board approved the review and recommended changes to a host of education policies and forms performed by the Commission on Annual Session and CME. It was noted that the Academy produced a very successful Electronic Health Records Conference in December and has another scheduled for April 16, 2005.

The Board approved the Nominating Committee’s new slate of officers for 2005-06. They are: Doug Curran, M.D., president-elect; Robert Youens, M.D., vice president; Linda Siy, M.D., treasurer; and K. Ashok Kumar, M.D., parliamentarian. These officers will be sworn in as Tim Coleridge, D.O., accepts the office of president at this year’s Annual Session in July. The Board also approved the committee’s choices for AAFP Delegate and Alternate Delegate, Roland Goertz, M.D., and Justin Bartos, M.D., respectively.

above: Tyra Tennyson, a third-year med student at UTMB Galveston practices joint injections.

below: Julie Lundy of Houston attempts a simulation of a fourth-degree episiotomy repair on a Butterfinger wrapper and a piece of beef.

The Board approved two new leadership scholarships to help defray costs of attending AAFP’s Annual Leadership Forum and National Conference of Special Constituencies. One is for a third-year resident and the other is for a minority physician. These are intended to encourage the participation of new physicians and minority physicians in the Academy.

To increase student interest, the Board approved an initiative from the Commission on Membership and Member Services that directs the TAFP Vice President to write a letter to local TAFP chapters challenging them to pay the TAFP student membership dues for medical students in their areas. For a complete listing of TAFP Board action, see the Minutes in Brief on page 44.

The Academy solidified plans to convene a Family Medicine Academic Departments Summit. This is an idea that first came about during discussions of the Future of Family Medicine recommendations. It has since been strengthened by requests for such a summit by medical students and academic chairs who see a need for leaders in family medicine and leaders in academic health centers to discuss relationships of mutual benefit.

Over 65 medical students and residents attended the Texas Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Students. Residents from 18 programs and students from all eight Texas medical schools attended lectures, elected officers and had time for networking. Some highlights included a talk about the Future of Family Medicine, a presentation for students on preparing a family-physician-friendly CV and personal statement, and a track for residents on searching for jobs. Saturday afternoon ended with a residency fair featuring representatives from 20 programs.

The conference ended Sunday morning with TAFP’s first procedure fair. Twelve Texas residency programs volunteered to demonstrate procedures to medical students. The students in attendance had two hours to rotate through the demonstrations and learn about circumcision, casting and splinting, skin lesion removal, joint injections, suturing and much more.

The new student chair is Emily Briggs of UT Houston and the chair-elect is Shelley Kohlleppel, also of UT Houston. Katie Patterson, M.D., of the Corpus Christi Family Practice Residency Program is the new resident chair and Azim Ahmady, M.D., of Family Practice Residency of the Brazos Valley is the vice chair.

Building on last year’s successful Clerkship Coordinators Conference, the Academy invited Texas family medicine residency coordinators to join the clerkship coordinators for a joint conference this year. The conference was intended to increase the understanding of family medicine among these important and influential people. It was a suggestion of the Task Force on Residents and Students to address the trend of declining interest in family medicine. Presentations included a discussion on the role of the family physician in the health care system, the findings of the Future of Family Medicine Project and what TAFP and AAFP do for students. After lunch, attendees broke into two groups to address issues specific to their different roles in medical education. They came back together to discuss barriers to the future of family medicine and had a reception with TAFP leaders. With 24 attendees, it was a very successful meeting.

TAFP past president honored for dedication to medical students

Congratulations are in order for Jack Haley, M.D., of Houston, who was appointed director emeritus of the Texas Statewide Family Practice Preceptorship Program at the program’s annual meeting on Feb. 18. In recognition of his contribution to medical students and family practice, Haley became the first person to receive this honor. His effort was commemorated by a 10-inch plaque in the shape of the state of Texas that reads:

“In recognition and appreciation for your many years of outstanding service, dedication and loyalty to medical students of the Texas Statewide Family Practice Preceptorship Program.”

“The greatest reward of working with the preceptorship program was working with the family doctors and their communities,” Haley says.

His greatest contribution has been his leadership to the preceptorship program, where he served as director for years, to TAFP and to the practice of family medicine, says TAFP Executive Director Jim White.

“Someone’s always got to remember, always has to hold the torch or else it will go out,” White says. “Jack held the torch for the preceptorship program and has inspired its further development.”

Because of Haley’s support, family medicine has more physicians, more student interest and has been able to give first- and second-year medical students important learning opportunities to experience the program, says Shirley Edwards, coordinator of TSFPPP since 1985 and, in Haley’s words, his “right arm.”

Haley, 79, grew up in Big Sandy, Texas, population 500, where there was no regular practicing doctor. For this reason, Haley decided to become a family physician like his grandfather. Haley graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1957, and he and his wife, Ann, worked together at Memorial hospital when he was an intern and she was a graduate nurse. He joined TAFP in 1961 and served as the Academy’s president from 1976-77. He served as both an alternate delegate and full delegate to AAFP. In 1980, Haley pioneered the state’s first preceptorship program and became director at its inception.

Throughout his Haley’s career, Ann worked as a registered nurse. She was present to witness her husband’s appointment to director emeritus. “She should have gotten it,” Haley says, for her work and dedication to the program.

“My wife and I felt like we had a lot to give, and we did,” Haley says. “It was meant for us to work together for the betterment of people.”

The TSFPPP exists as a cooperative effort between all of Texas’s eight medical schools, TAFP and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The State Legislature and the Higher Education Coordinating Board provide funding for TSFPPP.

Since the beginning of the program, 4,771 clinical students and 3,520 pre-clinical students have been matched with preceptors from communities around the state and have worked in the offices of Texas family physicians. Almost 810 physicians from 228 communities have volunteered to give one to 10 months each year as preceptors.

FP heads Harris County Medical Society

Robert C. Vanzant, M.D., Houston family physician and TAFP member, was installed as the 104th president of the Harris County Medical Society on Friday, Jan. 28 at the Westin Galleria Hotel.

Vanzant is an assistant clinical professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston as well as an assistant clinical professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He currently has a staff appointment at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital and a courtesy appointment at Spring Branch Hospital. Serving the public comes natural to Vanzant. His grandfather, B.T. Vanzant, M.D., was HCMS president in 1928 and a founding member of the Houston Academy of Medicine.

Other TAFP members installed as chairs or presidents of the boards, councils and branches of HCMS were Lewis E. Foxhall, M.D., Houston Academy of Medicine Vice President; Armando J. Jarquin, M.D., Chairman of the Council of International and Affiliated Medical Societies; and Kimberlie J. Gonzalez, M.D., East Branch President.

TAFP loses longtime member, past president

James Daniel Murphy, M.D., passed away at the age of 90 on Feb. 17, 2005, in Portland, Ore. Dr. Murphy, a member since 1948, was TAFP President from 1955-56. Born in Arlington and raised in Fort Worth, Dr. Murphy attended college and medical school in Colorado. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he began practicing in Fort Worth.

Dr. Murphy served as president of Texas Medical Association, 1966-67, and president of the Tarrant County Medical Society. He also served as chief of staff at All Saints and John Peter Smith hospitals and was involved in the formation of the Tarrant County Hospital District. Dr. Murphy retired in 1998 after practicing medicine for more than 50 years.

Dr. Murphy is survived by a brother and sister, two sons, a daughter and four grandchildren.