Albuquerque City Lifestyle recently talked to Dr. Nathaniel Roybal, a prominent local ophthalmologist/ retina surgeon, about his efforts to bring more healthcare workers to New Mexico. He is very involved with various professional and citizen groups that are working to bring more medical professionals to the state through legislative changes that would encourage doctors, nurses, and medical technicians to move to New Mexico. He feels that litigation without settlement caps discourages a lot of doctors and medical facilities from providing services in the state.
He tells us, “I'm a physician in New Mexico, born and raised in New Mexico, and I'm on a mission to make the lives better for our fellow New Mexicans, and in order to do that we really have to reset our vision for healthcare here in the state and so myself and some great New Mexicans have been really working to organize New Mexican physicians and citizens who want to advocate for healthcare.”
He proposes that our state could attract world-class physicians despite only having a few large metropolitan areas. Dr. Roybal says, “If you think about places like Rochester, MN, home to the Mayo Clinic and a town of only 121,000 people, or you think about Iowa City, home to hospitals that have multiple top ten rated programs within the country and a population of only about 77,000 people. The reason I bring up these two cities and these hospitals is that these are world-recognized hospitals and they're in small rural areas, and so the idea that New Mexico is mostly rural and therefore cannot have outstanding health care, that's something that needs to be challenged.”
Dr. Roybal sees legislative changes as a means to bring more medical professionals to our state. “The first step is to take some legislative action to make New Mexico a safe place to practice medicine, and once we can do that...once we can build that medical community...we will change the lives of New Mexicans and give a foundation for amazing economic development, not just for our big cities but for our smaller towns as well. I look at this as something that is just fundamental to the future of New Mexico. If we're going to make the lives better for our fellow New Mexicans, make them healthier, make them more prosperous, we need to address healthcare.”
He sees the possibility of an economic boom from such legislation. “When you think about health care in this country, it's a $4.9 trillion industry, and New Mexico would be really well served by taking advantage of emerging opportunities. That goes on the healthcare side...doctors and hospitals and making this a healthcare destination, but also working to lead in the areas of healthcare manufacturing...but it all starts with building a community of medicine here in New Mexico.”
“I think the question is really pretty simple, and that's...Why not a world-class healthcare system here in our hometown? I believe that every New Mexican deserves access to a doctor, and I believe that New Mexico can be a leader in healthcare.” Dr. Roybal can be reached at Retina Consultants of New Mexico. 505-847-7000