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Executive Order Requires Safe, Secure Use of AI in Health Care - 12/20/2024 10:49:16 PM

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Oct. 30 establishing new standards for the safe and secure use of artificial intelligence (AI) via federal oversight across different sectors, including health care. The order – which will re...
Medicine Meets AI: Artificial Intelligence Has Potential in Patient Care - 12/20/2024 10:47:30 PM

Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technology isn’t a futuristic concept for League City family physician Priya Kalia, MD. In fact, as an assistant clinical professor of family medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Dr. K...
313705 Scope One Pager Patient Care - 12/5/2024 3:51:52 PM
Record State Budget Opens Door for Health Care Investment - 12/5/2024 12:32:04 AM

The 88th Texas Legislature kicked off earlier this month, and the Texas Medical Association is already tracking nearly 700 bills, including promising proposals to reduce prior authorization requirements and concerning ones regarding scope expansion.&...
The Physicians Foundation Seeks Health Care Leaders for New, Free Training Program - 11/20/2024 6:19:32 PM

The Physicians Foundation and Brandeis University are seeking 25 physicians from across the country to join a one-year, hybrid training program, starting September 2025, designed to develop and sharpen the leadership skills necessary to influence sta...
Senate Committee Tackles Scope of Practice in Access-to-Care Hearing - 11/18/2024 9:40:33 PM

In a hearing packed with representatives from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, behavioral health, licensing boards, and academia, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee tackled Texas’ health care workforce shortages with the Texas Medical Associa...
Safety in Statute: State Law Guides Violence Prevention in Health Care - 11/18/2024 8:50:47 PM

Two and a half years after a violent attack on Children’s Medical Group in Austin, pediatrician Tammy McConnell, DO, still can’t go down the side corridor of the office where the horrific shooting of her colleague Lindley Dodson, MD, took place. On ...
State Law Banning Refusal of Care to Certain Unvaccinated Patients Takes Effect - 11/18/2024 8:23:49 PM

Starting Sept. 1, a new state law prohibits clinicians caring for patients enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to refuse health care services based on their vaccination status. During the 2023 regular l...
Patient Care Protected: Scope Creep/GME Funding - 11/18/2024 8:21:45 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Protect independent diagnosing and prescribing as the practice of medicine; address current workforce shortages in a way that ensures patients hav...
Patient Care Protected: Medicaid Payment Increase - 11/18/2024 8:20:09 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Help physicians grow their Medicaid panels and access to care with healthier payment rates. Physician-Led Results: Texas physicians have not seen...
Patient Care Protected: Network Adequacy, Surprise Billing - 11/18/2024 8:19:22 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Enhance enforcement of and accountability under state network adequacy laws and protect Texas’ surprise-billing law. Physician-Led Results: Spurr...
Patient Care Protected: Prior Authorization Reforms - 11/18/2024 8:18:46 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Build on the success of last session’s gold-card law by advancing further prior authorization reform. Physician-Led Results: Carrying the torch f...
Patient Care Protected: Physician Autonomy/Corporate Practice Protections - 11/18/2024 8:17:17 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Protect physicians from being criminalized for the practice of medicine and keep nonmedical entities from interfering with patient care. Physicia...
Patient Care Protected: Medical Liability Reforms - 11/18/2024 8:16:42 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Preserve Texas’ landmark 2003 tort reforms, which continue to undergird a strong Texas physician workforce. Physician-Led Results: For the 20th y...
Patient Care Protected: Medicaid Coverage for Women and Children - 11/18/2024 8:15:57 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Pursue more comprehensive coverage of and secure additional funding and resources for maternal and behavioral health care for women and children. ...
Scoping Out the Best Care: TMA Defends Team-Based Care Model - 11/18/2024 6:39:16 PM

At the outset of the 2023 legislative session, San Antonio pediatric anesthesiologist John Shepherd, MD, put on his white coat and marched to the pink dome in Austin to meet with several Bexar County lawmakers. Although the conversations were wide-r...
'Fighting Our Best': TMA Efforts Help Improve End-of-Life Care Bill - 11/11/2024 4:18:00 PM

Mark Casanova, MD, has a sign in his office reminding him of his team’s unconventional motto: “Stomp Out Suffering.” “A number of years ago, at the end of a team meeting, I just uttered the words as motivation,” the Dallas-based palliative care spec...
CDC: Masks Still Recommended for Everyone in Health Care Setting - 11/7/2024 3:44:04 PM

Does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend masking for physicians and other health care professionals to prevent the spread of COVID-19? The answer is yes. But if physician calls to the Texas Medical Association and a ...
New TMA Podcast Spotlights Timely Health Care Issues - 9/2/2024 11:15:21 PM

The Texas Medical Association Council on Health Promotion (CHP) has launched a podcast series to highlight health care issues important to physicians and patients as well as the community outreach programs the council oversees. The 5...
Coding with Care: Knowing Billing Codes for Complex Care Can Maximize Revenue, Access to Care - 8/28/2024 5:51:32 PM

Round Rock family medicine physician Tina Philip, DO, routinely cares for patients with complicated, chronic needs and regularly checks for new codes or updates that could boost her solo practice’s revenue for that effort. However, she often finds th...
Class Care: School-Based Health Centers Deliver Care to At-Risk Youth - 8/27/2024 10:47:01 PM

School-based health centers (SBHCs) are designed to improve efficiency in health care, and that showed recently at the Manor Mustang Health Center, which serves a geographically large area between Austin and Elgin. A young student presented wit...
Physicians, Stakeholders, Policymakers to Discuss Ways to Strengthen Border Health Care - 8/19/2024 5:44:27 PM

Aug. 19, 2024 ...
TMA Resources: Understanding Insurance and Policy in Health Care - 8/9/2024 7:40:02 PM

TMA resources to help students improve readiness for understanding the role of insurance and policy in health care. Health Insurance: Insurance Overview Affordable Care Act Overview Physician Prices, Fee Schedules, and Managed Care ...
Record Number of Doctors Arriving to Care for Texas Patients - 6/20/2024 10:43:06 PM

Feburary 5, 2020 Ratio of physicians to population at an all-time high For every Texan seeking medical care, a record – and increasing – number of physicians is available to respond. Texas’ physician workforce is growing at a record pace, acc...
Texas House Interim Charges Prioritize Access to Care - 6/3/2024 6:03:51 PM

In an extension of the 2023 state legislative session, the Texas House remains focused on expanding access among Medicaid, pregnant, and mental health care patients, goals it shares with the Texas Medical Association. This is according t...
The Waco Way: How This Addiction Medicine Specialist Targets Primary Care Challenges - 5/29/2024 2:29:34 AM

Zachary Sartor, MD, began practicing as an addiction medicine specialist after he saw an uptick in behavioral health disorders among his patients, a trend he found grew exponentially after the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have reports that show the ...
Mental Health Care to Expand With State Hospital Renovations Under Way - 5/9/2024 4:35:44 PM

Renovations to Texas state mental health hospitals are under way across the state with the help of investments from state legislators and support from the Texas Medical Association to expand access to behavioral health care. Among the la...
CMS to Debut Primary Care Payment Model - 4/10/2024 3:20:30 PM

In an effort to address financial barriers to accountable care organizations’ (ACOs’) provision of primary care services, Medicare will test a new value-based payment model for approximately 130 starting in 2025 and running through 2029. ...
TMA to IRS: Direct Primary Care, Health Care-Sharing Ministries Aren’t Insurance - 4/5/2024 6:36:38 PM

The Texas Medical Association is urging the IRS to reconsider a proposed rule that would classify direct primary care (DPC) arrangements and health care-sharing ministries (HSMs) as insurance. The IRS proposed rule was issued in June as a resul...
Data-Driven Interventions: TMA Zeroes in on Quality Opioid Care - 4/1/2024 5:35:34 PM

Data that reflect a patient’s true risk of substance use disorder or overdose. Technology that alerts physicians of an overdose history. Immediate and affordable access to overdose-reversing medication. Resources that support early intervention. ...
Power Data: Texas' Claims Database Will Help Clarify Care Costs - 3/15/2024 6:29:04 PM

Price transparency. Reduced health care costs. More informed care decisions. Better care quality. Achieving these goals may not be as far-fetched as it may sound now that Texas has joined 22 other states in establishing an all-payer claims dat...
Middle Ground: Medicare Offers Options Amid Shift to Value-Based Care - 3/5/2024 4:58:07 PM

When Sugar Land family physician Troy Fiesinger, MD, joined Village Medical, then Village Family Practice, in 2015, he was largely in the dark about value-based care. “I did not know what [that acronym] VBC meant,” he told Texas Medicine. Sin...
CMS Lifts Ban on Texting Patient Care Orders - 2/28/2024 4:51:28 PM

Clinicians in hospitals and critical access hospitals may now securely text patient information and orders to other members of the health care team if using a compliant platform, thanks to advocacy by the Texas Medical Association. “Our abilit...
ACOG Toolkit Assists Maternal Care in Non-Obstetric Settings - 2/21/2024 6:57:10 PM

In the wake of the startling statistic that 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable if treated properly, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has created an educational toolkit focused on educating physicians lo...
Patient Care Protected: TMA Secured Big Legislative Wins With a New Strategy - 1/11/2024 9:07:57 PM

Guided by a set of priorities and girded by grassroots physician advocacy, the Texas Medical Association entered the 2023 legislative session with a laser focused approach and came out hitting targets in every area of medicine’s agenda. That success...
Putting Patient Care Before Paperwork: TMA Addresses Burnout - 1/5/2024 3:09:25 AM

San Antonio endocrinologist Aruna Venkatesh, MD, often finds herself torn between patient care and paperwork. From documentation and coding to electronic health record (EHR) management, she laments that all her free time is consumed with administrat...
Study: Non-Physician Practice Ownership Hurts Care Quality - 1/3/2024 7:59:54 PM

As the Texas Medical Association continues to fight for physician autonomy amid increasing consolidation, new research shows the downsides of hospital- and corporate-owned practice settings for patients and physicians alike. Nearly 60% of phys...
Sickle Cell Disease Care Targeted in State, Federal Efforts - 12/6/2023 4:34:46 PM

Physicians could see improvements in their ability to care for patients with sickle cell disease as moves by the state and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) aim to standardize and improve treatment for the disease and expand acce...
Care Connections: TMA Foundation Grants Tackle Public Health Problems - 11/9/2023 4:29:20 PM

When Trey Moore, MD, started his career as a urologist in Fort Worth 26 years ago, he worked in a busy emergency department and his own private practice. In both settings, many of his patients weren’t covered by insurance and could only access stopga...
On the Mend: Maternal Care Wins Encourage Better Outcomes in Texas - 11/5/2023 7:28:47 PM

In the ongoing fight to save Texas mothers from outsized rates of mortality and morbidity, medicine scored a major victory this year: the extension of Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers to one year. A long cry from 60 days’ coverag...
Report Aims to Catalyze Texas Medicaid’s Shift to Value-Based Care - 11/2/2023 6:08:52 PM

A new report aims to accelerate Texas Medicaid’s transition from a fee-for-service payment model to a value-based one, a shift that has been underway for 25 years. The Value-Based Payment and Quality Improvement Advisory Committee recently iss...
Clinical Care COVID-19 Resources - 10/16/2023 9:02:31 PM

Printable Materials for Your Practice Customizable Physician Letters Permission Letter for Return to School Practice Log Forms Disinfectant Log Staff Temperature Log COVID-19 Symptom Tracker Safety Poster for Medical Practices...
Opening Doors: Texas’ Newest Medical Schools Founded to Improve Care for Underserved Patients - 10/3/2023 11:58:01 PM

In the past decade, medical schools have been popping up across Texas, and the most recent growth has been focused in the eastern part of the state. In 2020, the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston and the Sam ...
Access to Care Improves After 20 Years of Medical Liability Reform - 9/13/2023 6:42:56 PM

September 12, 2023 This week marks two decades since Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment to stop what some physicians and patients called a crisis situation. They say the effort ensured patients have greater access to doctors’ care. ...
Is Medicare’s Chronic Care Management Program for You? - 8/21/2023 8:56:48 PM

Interested in the possibility of getting paid as much as $75,000, or even more, for something you already more or less do? Medicare now pays separately for chronic care management (CCM) services under the Medicare physician fee schedule. CCM se...
CMS to Recoup Chronic Care Management Payments - 8/21/2023 8:55:53 PM

Some Texas physicians and outpatient facilities might have to refund payments they received for chronic care management (CCM) services performed during 2015 and 2016 under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, federal officials said. The U.S. Departm...
Patient Care Protected: Women's Reproductive Health - 8/14/2023 2:27:15 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Get clarity for physicians on how they can safely treat pregnant women while protecting the patient-physician relationship. Physician-Led Results: Phy...
Patient Care Protected: E-Cigarette Regulation and Taxation - 8/4/2023 11:49:52 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Increase funding for vaping prevention and cessation programs and create an excise tax to deter youth from buying e-cigarettes. Physician-Led Results:...
Patient Care Protected: Vaccines, ImmTrac2 Modernization - 8/4/2023 11:47:51 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Protect current vaccine laws and upgrade the state’s vaccine registry system to make it more user-friendly for practices. Physician-Led Results: Texas...
Congress Weighs Medicare Payment Reform During Health Care Consolidation Hearings - 7/25/2023 9:27:45 PM

Federal lawmakers in both chambers recently took up the issue of increasing consolidation – and, with it, decreasing competition – in the health care industry. Surfaced as possible solutions were several of the Texas Medical Association’s legislative...