Harris County Medical Society Now Ranks as Nation's Largest

The Harris County Medical Society announced that it has become the nation's largest county medical society, with a membership of approximately 8,650 physicians and medical students. HCMS, the professional association for Harris County physicians, was established in 1903 to promote the highest standards of ethical medical standards and to serve as an advocate for physicians and their patients.

"It's no accident that the Medical Society is the largest county medical society in the country, even larger than most state associations," says Dr. Susan Dobbs Curling, president of HCMS. "It's happened because the physicians believe that the Medical Society is worth joining. HCMS speaks for physicians and their patients."

For instance, in 1999, HCMS protected patients and physicians by successfully challenging the merger between Aetna/U.S. HealthCare and Prudential HMO Insurance Company. The new Aetna would have controlled 66 percent of the fully funded HMO market in Harris County, according to statistics from the 1998 third-quarter report, Texas Association of Health Plans. Its closest competitor would have been Cigna, at nine percent of the market share.

HCMS gathered and sent data from more than 2,500 Harris County physicians to the U.S. Department of Justice and Texas attorney general's office to protest the merger. As a result, the Department of Justice ordered Aetna to divest its NYLCare commercial business in Houston.

"With more than 75 percent of the Houston-area physicians belonging to the Medical Society, we are able to accomplish what no physician alone can," said Dr. Dobbs Curling.

Over the years, HCMS has founded several nonprofit organizations to meet the needs of the public and profession. Concern over blood shortages and blood safety prompted HCMS to organize the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in 1974. Having just celebrated its 25th anniversary, the Blood Center is responsible for providing blood donated from volunteers and blood components to more than 200 health care institutions in the Houston area.

In 1949, HCMS combined the collections of its Houston Academy of Medicine Library with the Baylor College of Medicine Library to form the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. One of the leading biomedical libraries in the nation, the HAM-TMC Library serves as one of eight regional libraries of medicine and has added consumer health information to its resources.

In response to the public's demand for accurate health information and education, the Medical Society initiated a fundraising campaign in the early 1990s to build a free-standing health education facility, the Museum of Health & Medical Science. The museum opened its doors in May 1996. It is the third most attended museum of its kind in the nation, and has been visited by more than 50,000 children through structured school tours. The museum is a mandatory part of the curriculum for Houston Independent School District fifth-grade students.

In 1970, the Harris County Medical Society drafted the ordinance that established the Houston Fire Department's Emergency Medical Services division. The Medical Society has continued to serve with the fire chief and the Houston Health Department director as an advisor to the EMS division since its inception.

The Medical Society also conducts a variety of outreach programs, including the:

• IDEA program, in which HCMS partners with the Houston Bar Association to educate elementary schoolchildren about the medical and legal consequences of drug and alcohol abuse;
  
  
• D-Tag Tattoo Removal, in which HCMS partners with the city of Houston to remove tattoos from former gang members so they can re-enter mainstream society; and
  
  
• Urban Scout Physicals, in which HCMS physicians provide underprivileged Boy Scouts with physicals so they can attend camp.

"Through our outreach programs, we give physicians the opportunity to serve the community in a variety of ways," said Dr. Dobbs Curling.

The Medical Society also provides many tangible services for physicians and their offices. HCMS holds free reimbursement consultations, free or low-cost continuing medical education courses, business expos and managed care conferences. The Medical Society also acts as an advocate in the state and federal legislature for bills that protect patients and physicians' ability to treat their patients.

"The Medical Society stands for what medicine has always meant to me, doctors caring for their patients and community," said Dr. Dobbs Curling.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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