AMA Honors TMA General Counsel “Rocky” Wilcox for “Unrivaled” Dedication to Medicine
By Amy Lynn Sorrel

For his substantial contributions to the medical profession, the American Medical Association awarded the Texas Medical Association’s general counsel, Donald P. Wilcox – “Rocky” as he’s known around TMA and the legal and legislative halls of Texas – with its Medical Executive Lifetime Achievement Award. 

After 42 years of service to organized medicine, this man behind TMA’s storied history of advocating for physicians and their patients through the legal and legislative systems is retiring in June. But the legacy he leaves behind has put physicians in Texas – even across the nation – on solid legal ground. 

Lauding him for his “unrivaled” dedication to physicians and patients, AMA Immediate Past President Susan R. Bailey, MD, an allergist/immunologist from Fort Worth, bestowed one of AMA’s highest honors on Mr. Wilcox on April 29 at TexMed 2022 in Houston.  

“Suffice it to say, that if you were an insurer, or state regulator, or government bureaucrat who pushed changes to medical practice without Texas physicians being on board, you were going to hear from Rocky Wilcox,” Dr. Bailey said. “Rocky, you’ve left an indelible mark on the legal and medical professions, improving the practice of every physician in this state and beyond. We thank you for being a good, kind, and steadfast friend, and an unparalleled champion for physicians and patients across our state.” 

After earning his law degree from Southern Methodist University, Mr. Wilcox joined the U.S. Air Force, where he began his legal career counseling physicians, hospitals, and medical staffs. He began his career in organized medicine at AMA’s Office of the General Counsel and Department of Health Law before taking on his current role at TMA, where he essentially founded TMA’s now-robust legal department when he became its first in-house attorney in 1979. 

Mr. Wilcox has seen TMA through 20 legislative sessions, seven governors, four sunsets of the Medical Practice Act, four TMA executive vice presidents, and too many court cases to quantify. Throughout his tenure he has been instrumental in securing numerous legal victories for medicine, including: 

• A successful challenge to a Medicare $14 million recoupment;
• A favorable federal court ruling protecting patients and their physicians from insurer discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act;
• Landmark Texas medical liability reforms;
• Wide-reaching settlements in anti-racketeering lawsuits against the nation’s health plans that resulted in $1.5 billion in relief and wholesale changes in health plans’ business practices; and
• Most recently, a preliminary win in TMA’s lawsuit challenging an unfair provision in the federal surprise billing rule. 

“If there’s one person who’s been at the center of these many TMA victories over many, many years, it’s Rocky Wilcox,” said TMA Speaker Brad Holland, MD, who also recognized TMA’s general counsel as part of the award presentation for his decades-long commitment to TMA. “You have built the finest legal team in organized medicine.” 

Mr. Wilcox was involved in the formation of TMA’s Patient-Physician Advocacy Committee, which to this day evaluates and advises on regulatory, legislative, and legal matters involving the standard of care; The Physicians Foundation and the Physician Advocacy Institute (PAI), whose missions of advocating for physicians and patients carry on today, and with whom TMA remains closely involved; and the Texas Alliance for Patient Access (TAPA) and the coalition’s work to defend Texas’ medical liability reforms. 

Demonstrating the humility he is known for, Mr. Wilcox praised physicians for the time and expertise they contributed to make the legal, regulatory, and legislative victories he was a part of possible. 

“It's been a great almost-43 years with the Texas Medical Association. We’ve done some great things over the years as a team,” he told the house. “You’ve got a great team going forward, and I look forward to a great future for the Texas Medical Association.”