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As you may recall, earlier this summer a dark money group called "New Mexico Safety Over Profit" (NMSOP) was sued by the state Ethics Commission for refusing to comply with the state law that required them to disclose the sources of their funding. NMSOP was the public face of the opposition to Think New Mexico's proposed reforms to the medical malpractice law during the last legislative session.   NMSOP was adamant that they would not reveal their donors, telling the investigative news outlet Searchlight New Mexico: "We certainly will not be disclosing our donors, nor do we have to."   NMSOP has now done just that.   In order to settle the 73-page legal action filed by the New Mexico Ethics Commission, NMSOP is paying a $5,000 fine, the maximum amount authorized for violations of the Lobbyist Regulation Act, and releasing their full list of donors.   So who was secretly funding this dark money group?   As it turns out, 100% of their donors are trial lawyers, law firms, and one paralegal. Over 74% of their donors are current board members or past presidents of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association (which is itself listed as a donor). You can see the full list here.   NMSOP didn't want the public to know this because they were trying to present themselves as a grassroots group of regular New Mexicans who opposed medical malpractice reform.   Thanks to the New Mexico Ethics Commission, we now know the truth: NMSOP is a front group for the trial lawyers lobby, which is focused on protecting the financial interests of its members. Reforms that Think New Mexico has proposed--like capping attorney's fees in medical malpractice lawsuits--would put more money in the pockets of patients but would reduce the amount of money going to their attorneys.     This attempt to conceal the fact that NMSOP consists entirely of trial lawyers is part of a pattern of deceptive practices, including NMSOP's refusal to reveal who authored the report it published to try to counter Think New Mexico's reform proposals - a report that Searchlight documented was full of errors and mischaracterizations. Now NMSOP is publishing social media posts and a large newspaper advertisement claiming "we don't hide our donors," even though that's exactly what they did until the Ethics Commission took them to court.   The good news is that there is a real grassroots group that recently came together to advocate for New Mexico patients. Patients Primero was started this year by several New Mexicans in the southern part of the state and is rapidly growing into a statewide network. They are supporting Think New Mexico's policy agenda to address the health care worker shortage, including joining the interstate compacts for health care workers, repealing the state's tax on medical services, and reforming the medical malpractice law to center the needs of patients, not attorneys.   You can follow Patients Primero on their Facebook page (they don't have a website yet) or email them at patientsprimero@gmail.com if you'd like to learn more or get involved with their work.   Fred, Kristina, Susan, Mandi, Katie, Lauren, and Noah Think New Mexico

Dear Colleagues,

Every day, you witness the strain on New Mexico’s healthcare system. Long wait times, workforce shortages, physicians leaving the state, and patients falling through the cracks are part of your daily reality. You continue providing care in a system that often feels broken, all while staying committed to the people who rely on you.

 

You don’t need another report to explain what’s wrong. You live it. And you understand that without meaningful policy change, our ability to care for patients and support one another will continue to erode. Yet many patients do not understand why it takes months to get an appointment or why they must travel hundreds of miles for essential care.

 

To help close this gap in understanding, a new public education campaign has been launched by Patient-Led New Mexico, in partnership with the New Mexico Medical Society, New Mexico Hospital Association, Sacramento Mountains Foundation, and the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association. The effort is focused on helping New Mexicans understand the policy environment contributing to our state’s deepening healthcare crisis, including the loss of physicians and rising barriers to care.

 

Healing Policy for Healthcare. Together.

Patient-Led New Mexico is committed to ensuring that every New Mexican can access the timely, high-quality healthcare they deserve. This is not about politics. It is about patients. Patient-Led New Mexico brings together communities, providers, and leaders to create a healthcare system that works for everyone. That work begins with public education. 

 

As trusted healthcare professionals across New Mexico, your voice is essential to this mission.

 

About Patient-Led New Mexico

Patient-Led New Mexico is a nonpartisan education and advocacy initiative created in response to growing concerns about how state-level policy decisions are threatening healthcare access across the state. Our campaign is focused on raising public awareness, equipping providers with communication tools, and mobilizing stakeholders around actionable solutions.

 

Through clear messaging, community outreach, and clinical engagement, we aim to ensure that the realities facing New Mexico’s healthcare patients and workforce are fully understood—and urgently addressed.

 

Why It Matters

As medical doctors and patient advocates, we are guided to put patient well-being first, speak honestly about medical risks, and oppose any policy that compromises safety.

 

New Mexico continues to lose physicians, specialists, and healthcare providers at a time when our population’s needs are growing. Clinics are closing, hospitals are at risk for closure, workforce shortages are intensifying, and patients are experiencing longer wait times and reduced access to care.

 

These challenges are not simply the result of national trends. They are being shaped, and in many cases, worsened, by state-level policy decisions that directly affect provider retention, practice environments, and patient outcomes.

 

Now is the time to act. Patient-Led New Mexico was launched to educate the public, include providers at the center of public conversation, and push for thoughtful, sustainable reforms.

 

How to Get Involved

We invite you and your organization to join this growing movement by taking the following steps:

 

Follow and Share Us on Social Media
Stay informed and help amplify provider voices by connecting with us online and sharing our content:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patientlednm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patient_lednm

X: https://x.com/Patient_LedNM

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/patientlednm

 

Visit the Website and Sign Up for Updates
Learn more about the campaign, explore emerging issues, and sign up to receive updates as new resources become available. 

Visit: www.PatientLedNM.org

 

Share Your Experience

As medical professionals, we are guided to put patient well-being first, speak honestly about medical risks, and oppose any policy that compromises safety. We invite you to share your story from the front lines. Your voice helps illuminate the realities facing providers and patients across New Mexico.

Visit: www.PatientLedNM.org

 

Join Us

Your medical practice is a trusted source of care and information. Your leadership can help elevate the voice of New Mexico’s providers and protect access for the patients we serve.

We hope you will join us in advancing this shared mission—so that every New Mexican, in every community, can access the care they deserve.

 

Sincerely,

Annie Jung

New Mexico Medical Society

 

Troy Clark

New Mexico Hospital Association

 

Jason Espinoza

Greater Albuquerque Medical Association

 

John Wheeler

Sacramento Mountains Foundation

Dear colleagues, The Senate passed its version of the reconciliation legislation (H.R. 1). The bill now moves to the House after being amended by the Senate.  Attached please find an updated overview of the relevant provisions that are included in the Senate bill. We will keep the membership updated as the reconciliation process concludes. PDF

Sincerely,

Adam Bruggeman, MD, FAAOS, FAOrthoA Chair, Council on Advocacy

A dark money group, New Mexico Safety over Profits (NMSOP), with deep ties to the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, attacked Think New Mexico in a recent opinion piece in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

That opinion piece is filled with some wild, over the top conspiracy theories (you can read it here, with our annotations and corrections). We wanted to share our response, which was published yesterday in the Santa Fe New Mexican, and also give you a bit of context.

Why the attack? In short, it is because Think New Mexico's campaign to reform New Mexico's malpractice laws continues to gain momentum, and because the New Mexico Ethics Commission filed a 73-page complaint against NMSOP last month for allegedly violating New Mexico's lobbyist disclosure laws. The trial lawyers and NMSOP are desperate to stop our momentum and deflect attention away from the embarrassing ethics complaint against them.  

This all began last fall, when Think New Mexico published a policy report on how to address the healthcare worker shortage. One of the reforms we are recommending is an overhaul of New Mexico's medical malpractice laws to better protect patients and bring down the extremely high malpractice insurance premiums that are burdening doctors. Our research found that the state's malpractice environment is one of the major reasons why New Mexico was the only state to lose practicing physicians between 2019 and 2024, when the number of doctors rose nationwide by about 44,000.

Our report identified six major problems with New Mexico's malpractice statute, which is unbalanced in ways that harm patients and health care workers. For example, unlike many progressive states like California, New York, and Massachusetts, New Mexico has no cap on attorney's fees. Likewise, New Mexico has no limit on punitive damages, as well as the lowest legal standard for proving punitive damages in the country. This lopsided statute is great for trial lawyers, but not so great for folks trying to find a doctor.

In January, we introduced our medical malpractice reform bill and gained the support of a growing number of legislators from both parties, as well as the governor. The trial lawyers realized that it would appear very self-serving for them to oppose these reforms directly, so conveniently NMSOP appeared on the scene to do the dirty work for them.

NMSOP put out a report filled with inaccuracies (as documented by the independent investigative news outlet Searchlight New Mexico) attempting to rebut Think New Mexico's report, and refused to say who had written it - or who was paying for their expensive advertising campaign. That is where the New Mexico Ethics Commission came in with its lawsuit to enforce state disclosure laws, and why NMSOP and the trial lawyers are so desperate to accuse Think New Mexico of the sort of subterfuge they seem to be engaging in.

We hope you'll share this background and our response with anyone you know who may have been misled by NMSOP's attack.

Fred, Kristina, Susan, Mandi, Katie, and Lauren

Think New Mexico

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham presented a wide ranging inter active personal hour long report on her government agenda to the New Mexico Orthopedic Society meeting Friday June 13.  This is my summary of the presentation.  For more details see the link to synopsis and another link to the Governor’s description online.

Governor Grisham generally described the process of governmental actions with the observation that most issues and proposed solutions to problems have at least two perspectives that need to be balanced.  There are many stakeholders.  Money is a huge

part of every issue and proposed solution.  Overall, there are MANY positive aspects of

life in New Mexico and the State is in a generally very good financial position.

The general issues she addressed included public safety/crime and education.  One of the big problems with crime is the concept of “competency.”  It makes sense that someone who is mentally incapable of functioning who commits a crime ideally should not be treated the same as someone in full control of the faculties.  However, in current judicial practice the typical successful defense legal strategy is to find perpetrators “incompetent” which results in their being released.  This creates a revolving door situation of “catch and release”.  Something like 3800 individuals in NM commit 60,000 offense/year but each time they are brought up on charges they fail to meet the legal requirement for competency and are released.  She is promoting efforts to tighten the state’s legal criteria to “competency”.

The Governor’s education agenda extends from Pre-Kindergarten programs to expanding medical residencies and everywhere in between.  For additional details see the attached links noted above.

She focused on other medical issues affecting the state including Doctor recruitment and Medical Malpractice Reform.  The Governor has been very supportive of medical education in NM including existing and future programs.  (See attached).  The state has an under-utilized program to financially support new physician practices in NM, particularly outside the I-25 corridor.  This program, called ABC, provides funds to help hospitals and new practices to

acquire necessary technology (radiography, electronic medical records,…) to support the practice.  This lowers the barriers to entry into physician practices.

Medical Malpractice Reform is an ongoing issue in NM.  From 1976 until 2022 we had state legislation that caps medical malpractice judgments at $600,000.  In 2022 the legislature voted to raise the cap to $750,000 with an annual inflation escalator that currently has raised the cap to almost $850,000.  The issue typically pits Trial Lawyers against Physicians and Hospitals with almost diametrically opposed positions.  Annually there are legislative attempts to change Medical Malpractice Act in NM either to make it better or worse from a physician’s perspective.  The Governor’s position is that the Act should be amended to make it better from society’s perspective.  The arguments presented by lobbyist for physicians and lawyers became so heated and vitriolic as be non-productive and she has banned them from the Governor’s office!  She is, however, still interested in engaging in constructive conversations with physicians and lawyers and encourages us to contact key legislators involved in this topic.  Governor Lujan’s position is that an increase in the cap to account for inflations is probably appropriate.  The argument is that the legislature decided a cap of $600,000 was appropriate in 1976.  The effect of inflation is not reflected in that cap but should be since a dollar today does not buy as much as a dollar in 1976.  Therefore, an increase in the cap to reflect the effects of inflation is “appropriate”.  The physician perspective is that medical malpractice costs are already too high and keeping physicians from practicing in the state and any change that increases medical malpractice costs is bad for the state.

There are other issues with medical malpractice where the Governor’s position is more in line with the physician perspective.  Venue shopping is the legal strategy of bringing a case in a location that is more favorable for the plaintiff (like Gallup) that where the care was provided (for example Albuquerque).  There are proposed changes to limit venue shopping that the Governor supports.  3 other issues are:  A, B, C.

This summary represents my understanding of what she said.  If you would like more information on any of these topics you can click on the links to a broader synopsis of her presentation that I have prepared and/or the Governor’s own website that more directly describes her positions, perspectives, priorities, and agenda. 

SYNOPSIS (Outline)

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Agenda 2025

I.       Non-medical Issues

II.      Medical issues

I.       Non-medical Issues

A.    Crime/Public Safety

B.    Education

1.     Pre K

2.     K-12

3.     College

4.     Medical school(s)/Other

5.     Post graduate medical education (residency)

C.    CYFD

D.    Economic development

E.    Permanent fund

F.    Budget

G.    Other

II.  Medical Issues

            A.  Malpractice Act changes

            B.  Physician Recruitment

            C.  Medical Education

            D.  GRT on medical care

           

In a productive meeting between NMOS and the governor of New Mexico, several key issues were addressed that are vital for the future of New Mexico.

The discussion began with the Federal Government's rehabilitation package, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts to maximize its benefits for local communities. A significant focus was placed on medical malpractice reform, highlighting the need to create a fair and efficient legal environment that protects both patients and healthcare providers.

Additionally, the governor is advocating for the elimination of venue shopping and stacking cases. This measure aims to ensure a more equitable legal process, ultimately benefiting the residents of New Mexico.

The conversation also covered the Medicaid Trust Fund and the Early Childhood Program which is essential for supporting families and fostering early development.

Further topics included the establishment of a nonprofit infrastructure to better serve community needs, electronic medical records reform to improve healthcare quality, and strategies to incentivize residents to stay in New Mexico. Public safety remained a top priority as both NMOS and the governor recognized the importance of enhancing safety measures for all New Mexicans.

Please join us in our effort to make New Mexico better for all by becoming a member of NMOS.  Scan the QR code below to get started.

Dear Colleagues, As President of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), I want to offer you this opportunity to vote online on several important AAOS matters. All Fellows are encouraged to cast ballots on the proposed AAOS Resolutions, the Bylaws Amendments, and to elect five individuals to serve on the AAOS Nominating Committee. Your vote has the power to shape the direction of our organization, influence policy decisions, and elect leaders who will advance our field. By participating in this process, you are contributing to the continued success and growth of the AAOS, and ultimately, to the betterment of patient care and the orthopaedic profession. It is crucial that you take an active role in shaping our future and ensuring that the interests of our profession are well-represented. The AAOS Board of Directors encourages you to Vote YES to adopt the proposed bylaws amendments. We have designed the online voting process to be quick, secure, and confidential. Please take a moment to vote by clicking the link below. Ballots must be submitted by Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Vote Now

Please be sure to review the background information available to you at aaos.org/governancechange as it will help you to make informed decisions on these important matters. Every vote matters. Thank you in advance for your participation. Ned Amendola, MD, FAAOS  AAOS President

Hello all, 

I am Jen Love, the new Executive Director of New Mexico Orthopaedic Society.  I am excited to join this incredible team and contribute to our mission of representing orthopaedic surgeons living in New Mexico.  With a background in non-profit organization administration, I look forward to working with all of you to make a positive impact in our community.