AUSTIN (KXAN) — New Mexico’s governor is running a new coordinated campaign aimed at recruiting Texas medical workers to work in her state.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham paid for full-page advertisements to run Sunday in five major newspapers, including the Austin American-Statesman. Those ads included an open letter from the governor, where she framed her pitch around offering a different political environment for those practicing in Texas.
“I know that legal restrictions on healthcare in Texas have created a heavy burden for medical practitioners — especially those of you now barred by law from providing the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare,” Lujan Grisham’s letter read. “It must be distressing that a draconian abortion ban has restricted your right to practice and turned it into a political weapon.”
The ads also feature a link to a “Free to Provide” state website where approximately 120 medical providers in New Mexico have now posted openings for positions that range broadly from nurses to doctors. State leaders told KXAN they’ll circle back with these providers as early as next week to see whether New Mexico’s campaign led to an increase in applicants.
“I certainly respect those of you who remain committed to caring for patients in Texas, but I also invite those of you who can no longer tolerate these restrictions to consider practicing next door in New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham wrote. “We’re fiercely committed to protecting medical freedoms here and we’re taking steps to ensure that what happened in Texas never happens in New Mexico.”
The state is spending about $400,000 to run this monthlong campaign, which also features a series of six billboards placed around Houston hospitals to encourage workers there to consider relocating to New Mexico.
“We’re providing a lot of health care to Texans right now, and we didn’t create the legal or political dynamic that Texas has created,” Patrick Allen, cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Department of Health, said. “Every state out there is looking for providers, taking advantage of every opportunity that it has where it thinks it has a competitive advantage over another state, and I can’t see why on earth we wouldn’t take advantage of the decisions Texas has made so far.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office slammed the effort Monday. Andrew Mahaleris, the governor’s press secretary, wrote in a statement, “People and businesses vote with their feet, and continually they are choosing to move to Texas more than any other state in the country. Governor Lujan Grisham should focus on her state’s rapidly declining population instead of political stunts.”
He also included a link to a June study from the University of New Mexico showing the state’s population growth is projected to remain flat and get increasingly older.
However, Dr. Tina Philip, the president of the Travis County Medical Society, called what New Mexico is doing a “bold move” that some physicians may seriously consider.
“Is there a moment where you think, well, maybe this could be a possibility? Sure,” Philip, a family practice physician, said. “But I think ultimately, most of us, we live here for a reason. We are committed to being in Texas — whether it’s family or we’ve grown up here or we moved here and we love it. It would be great if we felt that we could practice medicine without interference, but ultimately, I think most people are committed to being in Texas.”
Dr. Ray Callas, a Beaumont anesthesiologist who now serves as the president of the Texas Medical Association, said it’s concerning thinking about other states poaching talent, especially when there’s a shortage of medical workers here, too.
“For example, as an anesthesiologist in southeast Texas, it’s hard for me to entice sometimes people to come to southeast Texas, but if I put a big enough hook on it, it might get people to want to come,” Callas said. “New Mexico, they’re a neighbor, just like Louisiana is and Oklahoma is. I just think that they might have someone that might want to come, but I don’t know why you’d want to leave the great state of Texas, whenever we do a lot of amazing things here.”
The abortion ban in Texas already led Whole Woman’s Health to move its operations out of the state to New Mexico. Amy Hagstrom Miller, the clinic’s president and CEO, said in a statement Monday, “We welcome any support in recruiting doctors and advanced practice clinicians to New Mexico. By working together, we can better meet the needs of those traveling from surrounding states where abortion has been banned.”
This spring Abbott ordered the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to create a task force to address the shortage of health care workers. It’s designed to keep expert faculty within the state and provide enough clinic placement opportunities for health care students. In early June, the board announced the first members of the task force. They’re set to meet monthly to assess the state of health care in Texas and issue a final report in October.