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"                      <p class=\"imgtitle\"></p>           <strong>By Jon Opelt</strong><br /><br />An opinion piece issued by Alex Winslow of Texas Watch entitled <a href=\"http://www.caller.com/news/2011/nov/30/spin-doctoring-by-doctors/<br />\" class=\"copy\">\"Spin-doctoring by doctors\"</a> (Dec. 1) is making its way around the state. The op/ed makes the absurd and easily refutable claim that \"growth in (the number of Texas) physicians tracks population increases.\"<br /><br />In 2003 Texas passed a series of medical lawsuit reforms. Since then the growth in in-state physicians has outpaced population growth by 84 percent.<br /><br />According to the Texas State Data Center, the 2003 population was 22,118,509 and the 2011 population is 25,883,999. That is a net difference of 3,765,490, or 17 percent growth.<br /><br />According to the Texas Medical Board, in-state physicians in May 2003 numbered 38,035 and in May 2011 in-state physicians numbered 49,976. That is a net difference of 11,941, or 31.3 percent growth.<br /><br />It has best argued that the biggest driver of physician increases is population increase. This is true.<br /><br />However, Texas' physician workforce has grown considerably faster than the state's population.<br /><br />Had we merely stayed on the 2003 physicians per capita trend line and adjusted for population growth the state would have added 7,054 physicians.<br /><br />Instead we added 11,941.<br /><br />Otherwise stated, population growth may well account for 59 percent of the state's new physicians.<br /><br />The other 41 percent above the trend were produced by some other factor.<br /><br />When one considers the dramatic increase in physician applications and new licenses issued since 2003, it is reasonable to assume that the \"something else\" is largely influenced by a more hospitable legal climate.<br /><br /><em>Jon Opelt is the executive director of <a href=\"http://www.tapa.info/\" class=\"copy\">Texas Alliance for Patient Access</a>.</em>"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://setexasrecord.com/stories/510617323-increase-in-texas-physicians-due-to-more-than-population-growth>