TMA Kicks Off 20th Anniversary of First Tuesdays at the Capitol

By Mary E. Nava, MBA, Chief Government Affairs Officer

With the 88th Legislative Session now in full swing, the first ‘First Tuesdays at the Capitol’ took place on Feb. 7. Physicians and BCMS Alliance members participated in several meetings with legislators and staff. A number of topics were discussed, including: scope of practice; tobacco prevention; prior authorization; vaccinations and Medicaid funding for women and children’s health.

Many thanks to the attendees, who made our visits a success: Dan Deane, MD; Sanjiv Kumar, MD; BCMS President John Nava, MD; Michael “Mickey” Seger, MD; Jayesh Shah, MD; John Shepherd, MD and Alliance members, Jenny Shepherd and Martha Vijjeswarapu.

The next First Tuesdays at the Capitol is on March 7. We encourage all BCMS members to get involved and make plans to attend at least one First Tuesdays this legislative session. All you have to do is plan to travel to Austin during one of the First Tuesdays and BCMS staff does the rest, including scheduling appointments for our visits with legislators and their staff and gathering handouts pertinent to our visits. To register, please visit texmed.org/firsttuesdays.

For local discussion on these and other legislative advocacy topics, consider joining the BCMS Legislative and Socioeconomics Committee by contacting Mary Nava at mary.nava@bcms.org.