Greg Junek: Sunday Briefing

The Texas Medical Board is inviting medical professionals and the public to a town hall meeting this week to provide input about regulation of the medical profession.

TMB is also offering a seminar to assist entities that recruit or credential physicians.

Both sessions will be in the Biomedical Research Auditorium at The University of Texas Health Science Center, 11937 U.S. Highway 271. The town hall meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and the licensing seminar will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

“Our purpose for these meetings is twofold,” said Dr. Roberta Kalafut, TMB’s board president. “First, we want to encourage a more active dialogue with doctors and with the public. The impressions we have as regulators may not mirror the impressions of the licensees. We want to know if there are instances in which our regulations can be modified to make compliance easier for the regulated community.

“And as we work to improve our licensing processes, we want those people who work with applicants every day to have a more thorough understanding of what we need to see on those applications and what the most common errors are. We want to make licensing of physicians as seamless as possible.”

Texas Medical Board has instituted two changes. The first is a fast-track enforcement system, allows physicians who face relatively minor administrative violations to dispose of those changes without needing to attend a hearing.

The second, the License Inquiry System of Texas, is an online system that allows applicants to check the status of applications and provides explanations of items required to process an application. LIST also allows applicants and the board staff exchange messages.

JPMorgan Chase is increasing its presence in Tyler.

The financial services provider plans to add three more banking centers in Tyler by the end of the year, said Greg Hassell, the company’s media relations director for Texas.

Chase is already operating at 100 Independence Place, in the multi-story building near Broadway Square Mall.

A branch site is under construction in the 6800 block of South Broadway on a pad site in front of the Wal-Mart Supercenter.

That site will be a 4,000 square-foot facility with a three-lane drive thru. Hassell said it is due to be completed by the end of October.

Hassell said adding banks here shows that the company has “a lot of faith in the Tyler economy.”

JPMorgan Chase has assets of $1.8 trillion, more than 180,000 employee and operates in more than 60 countries, according to company financial records. It offers investment and financial services.

Swann Furniture will build a 52,000 square-foot showroom and warehouse complex on 3.72 acres in the new Oak Hollow development off Old Jacksonville Highway, says the Burns Commercial Property Real Estate Report.

Construction is set to start in January, the report said.

A Swann’s Furniture Gallery is open at 2401 Loop 323.

Oak Hollow is a master planned community in early statges of development south of Loop 323

The deadline to submit nomination forms for Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce’s W.C. Windsor Award is Friday at chamber offices, 315 N. Broadway Ave.

The award will be presented at the chamber banquet to a resident 21 to 40 who has achieved success in improving the community.

It was established in 1952 to encourage development of young leadership and is named for a former civic leader, Windsor.

A committee appointed by the chamber will select a recipient from the nominations.

The banquet is set for Oct. 7 at Harvey Convention Center. Other community and chamber honors also will be presented at the banquet.