Welcome Letter from the Chair
Welcome Letter from District XI (Texas) Chair,
Lisa M. Hollier, MD
January 2013
You can make a difference. A small investment of 60 seconds of your time now can make a huge difference. Just click here: www.meandmyobg.com to find out how you can help maintain your ability to use your judgment in caring for your patients. Working together, we can be strong advocates—for ACOG members and for women. I know that challenges to our practices and challenges to our personal lives surround us all. Everyone seems to want some of our energy and some of our time. Rising health care costs and dwindling state and federal dollars are placing increasing pressure on the practice of obstetrics and gynecology. We’ve seen so many intrusions into our exam rooms and ever increasing external regulation of our practice that I worry about how we can possibly maintain the honest, trusting relationship with our patients that must exist.
If you clicked on the link above, you’ve seen the website that we’re using to develop a grassroots coalition to educate the public about our key issues and mobilize support for improving women’s health care during the upcoming legislative session. ACOG also continues to address a number of other issues important to women’s health—take a look at our District website for additional information. As an example of advocacy for physicians, we've provided background information and actual invoices to HHSC to increase payments to physicians for LARC placement. We've also provided input on HHSC policy to limit the scope of practice for lay midwives.
As part of the outstanding value provided to our ACOG members, Dr. Eugene Toy is arranging yet another excellent Annual District Meeting program for 2013 in San Antonio. ACOG District XI wants to help you make the most of your practice, so we’ve arranged a coding CME event at the ADM and are encouraging you to bring your office managers or billing specialists.
As your representative to the ACOG Executive Board, I'd love to hear from you with any comments or concerns you have about the organization or women's health care. As always, feel free to contact me if you want to be more involved: lmhollie@bcm.edu.