TAFP members connect family medicine with decreased health costs

Decreasing the price tag on health care through preventive medicine has frequented news outlets as one solution to controlling ballooning health care costs. Now the connection between preventive medicine and family physicians’ practices has begun to grace the front pages as well.

In an October Austin American-Statesman article, TAFP member Lynn Stewart, M.D., was featured as one of two full-time physicians working in a health clinic for Travis County employees. Her work, along with other TAFP members Maggie Brown, M.D., and Abilio Muñoz, M.D., has saved the county about $17 million in the past three fiscal years, according to the article.

In early 2005, Travis County threw out the traditional insurance plan and opened a small health clinic that aims to curb costs by offering free checkups to about 6,600 employees, retirees and their families. In addition to the Lavaca Street clinic, the county supports a second full-time clinic and has hours once a week in a third location.

Stewart sees the clinic as positive for patients’ health, the county’s pocketbook and family physicians’ reputations as caregivers. “Family physicians are in an excellent position to encourage life-long health because we treat all ages and can identify health risks over the entire life of patients,” Stewart says. “This is the nice thing about our specialty. We have so much to offer, from vaccines to blood pressure screenings, cholesterol screenings and diabetes screenings. We’ve had many patients really make a difference in their lives.”

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Thomas named chair of ACCME

TAFP member R. Russell Thomas, Jr., D.O., M.P.H., was named chair of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education Board of Directors at the conclusion of the ACCME’s November 2007 meeting.

As chair, Thomas will preside at all meetings of the ACCME Board of Directors and its Executive Committee. He is responsible for working with the senior management of ACCME in the establishment of the agenda for meetings of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, and works closely with the ACCME’s chief executive between those meetings. His term will extend through 2008. In 2007, he served as the vice chair of the ACCME Board of Directors and has been a member of the ACCME Executive Committee since 2005.

Thomas currently practices family medicine in Eagle Lake, Texas, and serves as the medical director for Phoenix West EMS and Colorado County EMS. He recently completed a six-year term as a director of the Federation of State Medical Boards.

ACCME is a not-for-profit corporation that accredits providers of continuing medical education and oversees the recognition of state and territorial organizations that accredit additional providers. The 20-member ACCME board is comprised of two representatives from seven member organizations—the American Board of Medical Specialties, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, Association for Hospital Medical Education, Association of American Medical Colleges, Council of Medical Specialty Societies and the Federation of State Medical Boards—plus two public directors, two directors affiliated with recognized institutions and two non-voting representatives from the federal government.

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Pruessner, family medicine pioneer and “visionary,” dies at 82

TAFP life member Harold Pruessner, M.D., of Caldwell, passed away on Dec. 21, 2007, at his home on the Shootin’ Star Ranch. He practiced family medicine for 20 years in Corpus Christi until he joined the faculty of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 1972. Until his retirement in 1993, Pruessner worked to promote and increase the scope of the specialty at the medical school, especially emphasizing the importance of preventive care. He helped create the Family Medicine Residency Program and later served as chair of the Department of Family Medicine.

Grant Fowler, M.D., current professor and vice chairman of UT’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, called Pruessner a pioneer. “He had an unbelievable collection of knowledge,” Fowler said in a Houston Chronicle article. “His model was continuing comprehensive care with a big bent on prevention, which was very new at that time. He was very much a visionary.”

Pruessner was awarded a medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1948. He served as a physician in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. A medical student scholarship was created in his name through the TAFP Foundation, and the family has requested that memorials be made to the Harold T. Pruessner, M.D., Medical Student Scholarship. Survivors include his wife, Alma; sons, Michael Verber, Harold Pruessner, Jr., and David Pruessner; daughters, Audrey McGuyer and Janice Pruessner; 12 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; a brother, Robert Pruessner; and a sister, Mary Hudspeth.

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TAFP members elected to HCMS leadership

Several TAFP members were appointed to leadership positions at the Harris County Medical Society/Houston Academy of Medicine Annual Business meeting Oct. 30. They will serve on the 2008 HCMS Executive Board. Congratulations to Lewis E. Foxhall, M.D., HCMS president elect; JoAnne L. Rogers, M.D., HAM treasurer and second-year member at large; Robert B. Morrow, M.D., HAM secretary and first-year member at large; and Janette K. Bateman, president of the Southeast Branch.

In addition to the executive board, Armando Jarquin, M.D., Earl F. Martin, M.D., Presley J. Mock, Jr., M.D., JoAnne L. Rogers, M.D., and Robert C. Vanzant, M.D., will serve two-year terms as HCMS delegates to the Texas Medical Association. Janette K. Bateman, M.D., Dwane G. Broussard, M.D., Donald R. Niño, M.D., and Anthony J. Popek, M.D., will serve two-year terms as alternate delegates to TMA.

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TAFP members lead Galveston County Medical Society

TAFP members Daniel Piazza, D.O., and Barbara Thompson, M.D., were installed as leaders of the Galveston County Medical Society, the professional association for Galveston County physicians, in early January 2008. Piazza will serve this year as vice president and Thompson will serve as secretary-treasurer.

Piazza has practiced family medicine at Beeler-Manske Clinic in Texas City since 1995. He has also been a TAFP member since 1995. Piazza was awarded a medical degree from the University of North Texas Health Science Center’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1990 and completed his residency with the Methodist Hospitals of Dallas Family Practice Residency Program.

Thompson is the Sealy Hutchings and Lucille Wright Hutchings Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and professor of the departments of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Community Health. She has been a TAFP member since 1976, and received her medical degree and completed a residency at UTMB.