TAFP member Dana Sprute, M.D., tells members of the media that the stack of white coats beside the podium represents the severity of Texas’ primary care physician shortage.

Reporters from around the state gathered yesterday for a press conference on House Bill 1876 led by bill sponsor, Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa. Rep. Chisum opened the press conference by outlining the problem: Texas currently faces a severe shortage of physicians—particularly primary care physicians—to meet the needs of patients, which is worsened by the distribution of the physicians we do have and a declining number of students choosing to enter family medicine and general internal medicine residencies.

To illustrate the problem, a mound of white physician coats were stacked beside the podium with a sign that read, “These coats x 90 = 4,500 providers needed.” As Chisum explained the high amount of student medical school debt that causes students to avoid entering lower-paying primary care specialties, TAFP member Dana Sprute, M.D., added one more coat to the pile.

Sprute, the associate program director of the family medicine residency program at University Medical Center Brackenridge and Austin Medical Education Programs, spoke about what the Legislature can do to boost the supply of primary care physicians in Texas.

“We don’t have enough residency program slots to train many of the medical students that are coming out now and they’re seeking to choose training in other states and then they’re also choosing programs that will provide higher reimbursement, so if we can get debt burden as part of their relief, we’re hopeful that more people will choose primary care.”

Several news organizations from across the state have picked up the story, building momentum behind the bill. KVUE, KEYE and KXAN out of Austin covered the story, as did the Associated Press and the Austin American Statesman. The Amarillo Globe News published an op-ed by Rep. Chisum and the McAllen Monitor ran a story on a clinic that’s been searching for primary care physicians for two years.

The House Committee on Public Health is expected to take up the bill on Tuesday, March 31, so be on the lookout for more news soon.

Read the full press release here, and check out TAFP’s issue brief on H.B. 1876 here.

Thanks to the Physicians of the Day

Thank you to the physicians who volunteered as Physicians of the Day last week: Brian Spore, D.O., of Lufkin; Todd Howell, M.D., of Fredericksburg; David Pampe, M.D., of Austin; and Joane Baumer, M.D., of Fort Worth. Also, thanks to this week’s Physicians of the Day: Elizabeth Burnell, M.D., and Ron Mansolo, M.D., of Leander; Julie Graves-Moy, M.D., M.P.H., of Austin; Christopher Lawrence, M.D., of McKinney; Mitchell Finnie, M.D., of San Antonio; and Linda Porter-Tucci, M.D., of Pearland.

Don’t miss your chance to volunteer as a Physician of the Day during the 81st Texas Legislative Session. Two days remain in April that need to be filled: April 14 and April 16. For more information and to sign up, go to the Physician of the Day page of www.tafp.org.