79R11103 MMS-D

By:  Branch                                                     H.C.R. No. 133



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Medical schools and teaching hospitals in Texas play 
a vital role in furnishing the trained physicians that this state 
needs in order to provide quality health care for all its citizens; 
and
	WHEREAS, Texas currently has eight medical schools and four 
regional academic health centers, facilities that offer clinical 
training to third- and fourth-year medical students; today, these 
12 institutions are collectively educating more than 5,000 men and 
women; and
	WHEREAS, In addition, Texas boasts 468 accredited residency 
programs, which prepare physicians to practice in a specific 
medical specialty; nearly 6,000 recently graduated physicians 
currently work as residents in this state; and
	WHEREAS, Through the formula funding process now in place, 
Texas spends approximately $50,000 a year for each medical student, 
investing, on average, $200,000 per student over the entire four 
years of medical school; the state also spends about $3,000 
annually for each resident; residency programs vary in length 
according to specialty:  pediatricians, for example, undertake a 
three-year residency, and pediatric cardiologists train for three 
more years after that; and
	WHEREAS, The return on the state's investment in medical 
education is enormous; to take just one economic index, Texas 
ranked fifth in the nation in 2002 in the economic impact produced 
by its medical schools and teaching hospitals; that year alone, 
those institutions had a direct impact on the state of $8.5 billion 
and an indirect effect of $11.1 billion; and
	WHEREAS, From the standpoint of patient care, residency 
programs contribute immeasurably to the Texas health care system; 
residents provide medical services to countless patients, 
especially Medicaid, Medicare, and indigent patients, and 
typically tag-team to provide round-the-clock coverage at teaching 
hospitals, which generally deal with the most difficult medical 
cases; and
	WHEREAS, Research has shown a strong relationship between 
where physicians train and where they choose to enter practice; 
about 57 percent of those who graduate from medical school in Texas 
remain in the state for their residency training, and studies 
indicate that physicians who complete both their undergraduate and 
graduate medical education in Texas are almost three times more 
likely to practice in this state than those trained elsewhere; and
	WHEREAS, For Texas to continue to be a strong and productive 
state, access to quality health care must be assured; at the same 
time, ongoing innovations in medical technology and the increasing 
complexity of medical treatment, together with longer average life 
spans and the state's growing population, all mean that the demand 
for physicians in a wide array of fields will only expand in the 
years ahead; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby recognize the essential importance of skilled medical care 
to the well-being of Texas citizens and the concomitant need to 
adequately provide for the education of medical students and 
residents in the Lone Star State.