More doctors in Texas

By Ralph Blumenthal
New York Times
Oct. 5, 2007
condensed text for Nacogdoches blog

Doctors are arriving from all parts of the country to swell the ranks of specialists at Texas hospitals and bring professional health care to some long-underserved rural areas.

"It was hard to believe at first; we thought it was a spike," said Dr. Donald W. Patrick, executive director of the medical board and a neurosurgeon and lawyer. But Dr. Patrick said the trend - licenses up 18 percent since 2003 - has held, with an even sharper jump of 30 percent in the last fiscal year, compared with the year before.

Of those awaiting processing, the largesy number, after Texas, come from New York (145), followed by California (118) and Florida (100).

In some medical specialties, the gains have been especially striking, said Jon Opelt, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Patient Access, a medical advocacy group; 186 obstetricians, 156 orthopedic surgeons and 26 neurosurgeons.