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About CME - 09/18/2024

Continuing Medical Education

Residency Revival: Grassroots Advocacy Averts Residency Program Closure - 03/12/2024

Grassroots physician advocacy averts emergency medicine residency program closure.

Study: Non-Physician Practice Ownership Hurts Care Quality - 01/03/2024

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.

Medical Power of Attorney - 07/17/2023

Durable Power of Attorney or Medical Power of Attorney is a document, signed by a competent adult, designating a person that the principal trusts to make health care decisions on the principal's behalf should the principal be unable to make such decisions.

Medicare Pay, Physician-Owned Hospitals Considered in Health Care Competition Hearings - 05/09/2023

Federal lawmakers recently considered several bills related to transparency and competition in the health care industry, including two that could alleviate Texas physicians’ long-standing concerns about inequitable Medicare payments and a prohibition on physician-owned hospitals.

Legislative Priority #6: Physician Autonomy, Corporate Practice Protections - 03/14/2023

During the 2023 state legislative session, the Texas Medical Association aims to protect physicians from being criminalized for the practice of medicine and to keep nonmedical entities from interfering with patient care.

Stark Self-Referral Laws and Regulations - 10/07/2022

Stark generally prohibits a physician (or an immediate family member of such physician) who has a direct or indirect financial relationship with an entity that provides a designated health service from making a referral for that service for which Medicare or Medicaid would otherwise pay. This very broad prohibition is mitigated by a large number of exceptions. These exceptions must be met exactly. Failure to meet a Stark exception will result in a violation.

CMS Drops Opposition to Texas’ Medicaid Waiver Extension; TMA Concerns Persist - 05/26/2022

Texas’ safety net got a reprieve when the federal government agreed to drop its opposition to a 10-year extension of Texas’ Medicaid 1115 Transformation Waiver, ensuring an annual $3.8 billion to offset uncompensated care through 2030.

How is Your Relationship With Your Hospital? - 10/06/2020

TMA is conducting the 2020 survey, and we’d appreciate your input this month on how hospital relationships affect you.

Be Vigilant - Hospital Medical Staff Bylaws and You - 09/16/2020

To bolster an argument that bylaws are binding on physicians, medical staff, and a hospital, the Texas Medical Association Office of the General Counsel has crafted language that could improve the binding effect of your hospital’s bylaws.

Update: TMB Clears Up Questions About PMP Checks for Inpatient Care - 02/21/2020

Will you be required to check the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) when a patient is admitted to a hospital or emergency department? Will you be required to check PMP Aware upon admission? What if you need to prescribe those medications while the patient is in that facility? The Texas Medical Board issued guidance on those very questions this week.

Physician Ownership Overview - 03/01/2018

Physician-owned hospitals (POHs) are among the highest performing, most cost-effective, patient-preferred facilities in the nation. Yet the Affordable Care Act arbitrarily restricted their growth. The Texas Medical Association urges Congress to overturn this moratorium on POHs. Read on to learn more about the rationale and the effort behind this.

Twelve Ways Tax Law Changes Will Affect Your Practice - 01/22/2018

In December, Congress approved and President Donald Trump signed the first significant update to the United States’ tax code in more than 30 years.

Four Stark Law Tips Worth Noting - 12/06/2016

The Stark (physician self-referral) and antikickback laws are nothing if not complicated. That’s why we asked the health care attorney who “wrote the book” on these topics to highlight a few areas that may be of interest to many physicians.

Principles of Medical Ethics - 05/13/2016

Principles of Medical Ethics