President's MessageAugust 2022
Last month the Board of Directors traveled to Lubbock, Texas for its first meeting in the Hub City. It was a great opportunity to take TCEP out west to meet our members including faculty, residents, and medical students. I want to thank all those that made it out for the meeting to make it successful. Several issues were addressed by the Board in the two-day strategic planning meeting. We spend a portion of each meeting reviewing our current finances andinvestments. We acknowledged we are all feeling the effects of inflation and TCEP is not immune to this. The board closely considered many options put forth by our Finance Committee Chair Dr. Peckenpaugh. Ultimately, the Board determined that due to sound fiscal planning and investing in years prior, we can weather this current inflationary period without having to raise our membership dues. TCEP has not raised membership dues since 2016. In the future, we may need to do so, but for the time being the one place you will not see your costs increase is for your TCEP membership. There was also discussion about the recent Dobbs decision by the US Supreme Court as well as current state laws SB 4, SB 8, and HB 1280 which were passed in the last legislative session almost two years ago. We recognize the concerns and uncertainty from many of our members. We have worked with our lobbying firm, Imperium, to provide a summation of pertinent laws for Texas emergency physicians. This resource was recently distributed on the Engaged platform. We hope you find this resource useful to both educate yourself and your colleagues on the current law. This coming spring TCEP Connect will transition to an advocacy focused conference for the first time. It will be held in Austin during the legislative session and provide the opportunity for attendees to receive training in advocacy and go the Capitol if they wish. The board has discussed hosting Connect in Austin every other year, for quite some time. These meetings would align with the legislative session and we are excited to see this planning implemented in 2023. There will be more details forthcoming, and I encourage you to put the dates of April 16 – 18, 2023 on your calendar so that you can attend. I want to personally thank you for being a TCEP member as well as your dedication to our specialty and the quality care you continue to provide our patients. We are looking forward to seeing you all in San Francisco this year for ACEP Scientific Assembly. |
