Presbyterian Healthcare Services · 2025–2026 Legislative Sessions
As Executive Director of Government Relations for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Michael led the health system's legislative strategy across two Sessions aimed at a single goal: making it easier for New Mexicans to see a doctor, and easier for the state to keep the doctors it has.
He was part of the coalition behind House Bill 99 (2026), which capped punitive damages and raised the standard of proof in malpractice claims — reform expected to reduce physician malpractice premiums by double digits — backed by Presbyterian's "Keep NM Doctors" public campaign. The same session delivered a broader set of workforce wins Michael worked on alongside: Senate Bill 1, bringing New Mexico into the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact to speed licensing for out-of-state physicians; House Bill 66, which raised the state's health professional loan repayment award to $75,000 a year for four years for physicians (up to $300,000 total) — the most generous program of its kind in the country; and a new $10,000 physician income tax credit under Senate Bill 151.
On hospital consolidation oversight, Michael worked through the 2025 session as the Legislature moved to regulate hospital mergers and acquisitions. He was part of the effort that opposed the original Senate Bill 14, which ultimately died in committee, then helped negotiate House Bill 546 — an emergency replacement that extended and revised the state's hospital merger oversight framework into a version the health system could support.
Ahead of the 2025 session, Michael also led a more deliberately proactive shift in the health system's advocacy: rather than responding bill-by-bill, he worked with leadership to identify organizational priorities and build a strategic plan to pursue them — the same planning discipline he'd used to focus giving at the Thornburg Foundation, applied to a health system's legislative agenda.