TexMed
The 2025 TMA House of Delegates sessions will be held during TexMed 2025, taking place May 8-10, 2025, in San Antonio at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort.
Make plans to be in attendance in 2025! TMA will provide more details later in the year.
To see what happened during the 2024 House sessions, see the 2024 Summary of Actions.
TMA House of Delegates Makes Policy
The Texas Medical Association (TMA) House of Delegates is the legislative and policy making body for the association. It is made up of over 400 elected members who serve as delegates, alternate delegates or ex officio members.
The TMA House is also responsible for electing the President-elect, members of the Board of Trustees, Speaker and Vice Speaker of the House, members of the Texas Delegation to the American Medical Association, and others.
The House meets annually (in-person) on Friday and Saturday mornings during TexMed, TMA’s educational showcase and expo, which is usually held in April or May and rotates among the large cities around the state.
Several weeks prior to the House annual sessions, TMA posts on the House of Delegates page the action reports and resolutions that will be considered during TexMed, as well as informational reports and the list of candidates running for TMA office.
For more information, please see below. Also refer to How the House of Delegates Functions and the House of Delegates Guide.
HCMS Delegation Information
Serving on the Harris (HCMS) Delegation to the TMA House of Delegates carries with it the responsibility of representing the physicians of Harris County and provides an opportunity to influence the policies of organized medicine.
Each year, our delegation holds three local evening (virtual) meetings prior to the TMA House annual sessions. All delegation members are expected to attend these meetings and encouraged to participate in the discussions.
We also hold a brief (virtual) Orientation meeting just before our first Business meeting, so our newer delegation members can learn more about their role and the workings of the delegation and House of Delegates.
2024 Local Meetings - Resolutions, Review Teams, Action Items
Orientation and First Business meeting
In January, our delegation held a brief virtual Orientation meeting so our new delegation members could become more familiar with the processes.
That same evening, our delegation met virtually for our first virtual Business meeting to discuss the resolutions submitted by our local members.
The resolutions that were accepted by our delegation were submitted by staff to TMA, as coming from the HCMS delegation, to were included in the TMA Handbook for Delegation Members. They were considered by the TMA House of Delegates along with the action reports and the resolutions from other counties, individuals and sections during the May 3-4, 2024, TMA House sessions.
Review Teams meetings
In March, our four local Review Teams met virtually (via breakout rooms) to consider the items in their sections of the TMA Handbook.
These items were the action reports (submitted by TMA boards, councils, committees) and the resolutions (submitted by other counties, individuals, TMA sections).
Each Review Team made a recommendation on the items from the team's assigned section whether our delegation should support, oppose, or recommend amendment or referral.
All of our delegation members were encouraged to participate on one of the teams.
Our Review Teams correspond to TMA's four Reference Committees and the four "action" sections of the TMA Handbook. They are:
- Financial and Organizational Affairs (FOA) - considers TMA association finances; membership; representation; federation membership; licensure and legal issues.
- Medical Education and Health Care Quality (MEHCQ) - considers undergraduate, graduate and continuing education; physician workforce.
- Science and Public Health (SPH) - considers core public health functions; environmental health; child and adolescent health; EMS and trauma; addictive and infectious diseases; scientific and clinical aspects of medicine; biomedical research; medicine and technology.
- Socioeconomics (SOCIO) - considers health care payment plans; Medicare and Medicaid; reimbursement; workers' compensation; legislative, regulatory, and legal issues.
Second Business meeting
In April, during our second virtual Business meeting, our delegation heard the Review Teams' recommendations, as presented by each chair. Our delegation considered our Review Teams' recommendations and decided how, as a delegation, it wished to respond to each item presented.
During the TMA House sessions
At TexMed 2024, our delegation's responses to the items were presented at the in-person TMA Reference Committee hearings and the TMA House sessions. Those events took place Friday-Saturday, May 3-4 at the Omni Dallas Hotel.
The House Opening Session began Friday morning, May 3 at 8 am, followed by the TMA Reference Committee hearings (morning-afternoon). Also on Friday, TMA held a Candidate Forum at 3 pm, so members could learn more about the candidates running for TMA office.
Early Saturday morning May 4 at 6:30 am, our delegation met at the Harris Breakfast Caucus to discuss the final Reference Committees' reports to determine how our delegation wished to vote on the business items, as well as to discuss the candidates running for office. The final Reference Committee reports were the committee members' recommendations as to how the House members should vote on each action report and resolution from the TMA Handbook. They included the resolutions submitted by the HCMS delegation.
The Breakfast Caucus meeting was immediately followed at 8 a.m. by the House Business Session. It was at this final meeting that the House members considered and voted on the Reference Committees' reports/recommendations that determine TMA policy. The members also elected officers of the TMA.
Impact of HCMS Delegation and TMA House of Delegates
Resolutions can change or update TMA policy, but they also can have an even wider impact. Some resolutions have led to changes in state or federal law. For example, the "gold carding" prior authorization bill passed by the 2021 Texas Legislature was as a result of an earlier HCMS resolution adopted by the TMA House and continuous efforts by HCMS and TMA. See some examples of resolutions that resulted in state or federal action.
TMA House of Delegates Sessions
2024 - The 2024 Summary of Actions provides a review of the TMA elections and policy actions taken during the House sessions held in Dallas. The 2024 Audit Trail allows members to follow the 2024 House items referred for study or actions.
2023 - For what happened during the 2023 House sessions, refer to the 2023 Summary of Actions and 2023 Audit Trail.
2022 - To see what happened during the 2022 House sessions, refer to the 2022 Summary of Actions and the 2022 Audit Trail.
2021 - For what happened during the 2021 House sessions, see the 2021 Summary of Actions and the 2021 Audit Trail.
Current TMA and AMA Policy
Staff
If you have questions or an interest in the Delegation, contact HCMS at 713-524-4267, Alison Rutland, ext. 219, alison_rutland@hcms.org; or Doug Abel, ext. 328, doug_abel@hcms.org.