Decades Interview with Michael Darrouzet ’83

Michael Darrouzet ’83 discovered his passion for service early on at Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, where he learned “the importance of living [his] life as what the Jesuits call ‘Men for Others.’” As Michael was completing his BBA in finance from the University of Texas, his brother suggested he consider hospital administration as a career, and Michael quickly realized the field offered the “perfect blend of service to others and business.”

During the first five years of his career, Michael held a variety of positions in hospitals across Texas and, at age 27, he became the youngest CEO in Psychiatric Institutes of America. During that time, he also married, began his family (i.e., “[his] number one priority”), moved three times, and began looking for a position that offered more stability.

As luck would have it, a colleague’s father was the CEO of Dallas County Medical Society (DCMS) and was looking for an assistant executive officer. Michael landed the job and remained with DCMS for 31 years, ultimately becoming the third CEO since the society’s formation. Presiding over 13 staff members and a budget of roughly $2 million, Michael’s primary focus was physician advocacy and protecting the private practice of medicine and the patient/physician relationship. The growth of managed care and consolidation of the insurance industry during the 1990s— and more recently the strong move by hospitals to employ physicians—made his efforts especially challenging. Additional challenges arose with the threats imposed by Ebola, West Nile virus, H1N1, and five major hurricane-sheltering operations from Hurricanes Katrina to Harvey. DCMS played an integral role in each of those public health crises.

Preferring to consider DCMS’s accomplishments as “team wins,” Michael is justifiably proud of the work they did to create Project Access Dallas, a community service program linking uninsured patients with volunteer physicians who provided primary and surgical care to more than 10,000 patients. Spearheading that initiative, which ran from 1999 to 2013, entailed hiring an additional 30 people and raising more than $25 million to operate the program. Although he was forced to close it in 2013, as funding was diverted to hospital-only based programs, Michael considers their work “incredible” and the most rewarding project. “I will never forget those moments.”

Nor did his colleagues and constituents. In 2004, Michael received the Millard J. and Robert L. Heath Award, the DCMS’s highest honor for a layperson. In 2005–06, he was elected and served as President of the American Association of Medical Society Executives (AAMSE) and in 2017, he was among its first four members to receive the AAMSE Recognized Fellow citation.

On September 1, 2019, Michael became Executive Vice President/CEO of the Texas Medical Association (TMA). The most senior member of TMA’s professional staff and administrative partner of the elected physician president, he oversees TMA’s extensive and robust advocacy efforts, works closely with various Texas associations, societies, hospitals, provider groups, insurers, and payers, among others, and plays an influential role in the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates. But there are choppy waters ahead: the large number of uninsured patients in Texas, Medicaid reform, national health system reform, consolidation within the hospital industry, and the health care needs of rural Texans. Acknowledging that “it’s a challenging but very exciting time work in health care,” Michael hopes to “continue the excellent work of TMA and support outstanding physician leaders to create bold and innovative solutions to improve access to medical care and address affordability of care for everyone living in Texas.”

Despite the formidable scope of his responsibilities, Michael still prioritizes his family. He and his wife have three grown daughters, and he remains close to his twin sister, four brothers, and a “very sweet, sharp, and engaged 97-year-old mother.” He stays active in his church, has served on several community boards, enjoys traveling with friends, and is a devoted Dallas Cowboys fan. A talented musician, Michael has played acoustic guitar since age 11 and has been in countless bands—even playing at the student union and the Tavern at UT as an undergrad. In 1998, he began building acoustic guitars and has remained an “amateur luthier” (maker of stringed instruments) ever since.

“I will always be grateful for my years of learning and working in the medical/surgical and behavioral health inpatient hospital settings,” he says. “To this day, I still recommend that new HCAD grads spend their first years working inside hospitals. Making a positive difference in the lives of others is what this career of health care administration is all about.”