The Board of Governors of Texas Medical Liability Trust has declared a 20 percent dividend amounting to approximately $35 million for 2006, effective January 1, 2007 for renewing TMLT policyholders. Dividends will be credited to each policyholder’s premium as a lump sum when his or her policy renews in 2007.
In addition, the trust will reduce rates 7.5 percent for all specialties across the state beginning January 1, 2007. Current TMLT policyholders will receive this rate decrease when their policy renews.
TMLT now has reduced annual rates four times since the passage of House Bill 4 and Proposition 12 – 12 percent in 2004; 5 percent in 2005;
5 percent in 2006; and now 7.5 percent in 2007 totaling 29.5 percent
in four years. By the end of 2007, TMLT’s rate reductions since 2004 will amount to nearly $139 million and returned dividends of 25 percent will amount to nearly $45 million. Since the passage of Prop 12 and medical liability reform of 2003, TMLT policyholders will have realized cumulative savings of more than $180 million.
Additionally, non-meritorious claims intake is down as a result of the medical liability reform achievements in 2003. TMLT believes the legal environment will continue to improve as long as 2003 tort reform measures remain in effect.
TMLT is the state's largest medical liability insurance provider, serving approximately 50 percent of active practice Texas Medical Association member physicians, or nearly 13,800 Texas doctors. A physician must be a TMA member to apply for coverage with TMLT. The trust is not-for-profit, physician-owned and endorsed by TMA as well as a number of county and specialty medical societies.
UTHSCSA’s School of Medicine is ranked second behind only Stanford in the medical schools category of a recently released “Top 10 Graduate Schools for Hispanics” survey. The list appeared in the September issue of Hispanic Business magazine.
Survey parameters included number of Hispanics enrolled, retention rate, percentage of students receiving financial aid, MD degrees awarded, number of Hispanic full-time medical school faculty and extent of programs that recruit and mentor Hispanic medical students. During the 2005-2006 academic year, 153 Hispanic students were enrolled in UTHSCSA’s School of Medicine, the retention rate was 95 percent among these students, and 95 percent received financial aid. The School of Medicine awarded M.D. degrees to 32 Hispanic students in May 2006.
The health science center, which operates campuses in Harlingen, Edinburg, Laredo and San Antonio, has one of the strongest concentrations of Hispanic faculty in the nation, at 110 members strong.
Nearly 20 percent of students in
the School of Medicine are Hispanic, compared to the U.S. medical school average of 7.5 percent, reported
by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The School of Medicine has the stated goal of recruiting students who will be able to competently address the needs and priorities of South Texas’ diverse population.
School of Medicine applicants are reviewed holistically, said David J. Jones, Ph.D, associate dean for admissions in the School of Medicine. “We look at the complete person, including academic excellence, educational background, community service, stated goals and all the qualities that would make one a competent and compassionate physician.”
A team of specially-trained cartilage repair physicians from the San Antonio Orthopaedic Group has opened a one-of-a-kind center dedicated to treating cartilage injuries with the latest advances in cartilage care.
Co-directors for the Cartilage Repair Center of Texas are Drs. Brad S. Tolin and Jesse C. DeLee, both fellowship-trained in sports medicine.
The center offers a range of treatment options and new technology, including regeneration of a patient’s own cartilage. In some cases, not only can these treatments resolve pain and restore function, but also delay the progression to arthritis.
Just in time for fall flu shots, comes word that there is no change in Medicare coverage of influenza vaccinations as a result of the Part D drug benefit. Influenza vaccination will continue as a Part B covered benefit, according to Jeffrey Kelman, MD, chief medical officer, Center for Bene-ficiary Choices, CMS/DHHS.
The immunization rate for Texas children increased 11percent in 2005, moving the state up in the national rankings to No. 24, according to statistics released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bexar County, however, decreased 3 percent to 71.3 percent, down from 73.3 percent.
The CDC’s National Immunization Survey, which tracks immunization rates among preschool children, found that the Texas rate for a key vaccine series was 76.8 percent in 2005. That’s an 11 percent increase over the state’s 2004 rate of 69.3 percent, and it’s the first time since the survey’s inception in 1995 that Texas ranked above the national average. Texas now ranks 24th in the nation for immunization rates, up from 41st in 2004.
The National Immunization Survey provides vaccination coverage estimates for children 19 through 35 months of age. State rankings are based on the percentage of children completing the 4:3:1:3:3:1 series of immunizations. That series includes four doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, three doses of polio vaccine, one dose of measles-containing vaccine, three doses of Hib vaccine, three doses of hepatitis B vaccine and one dose of varicella vaccine.
