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Fast, smooth, relatively painless. That’s the way Texas Medical Association President Diana L. Fite, MD, described her experience as part of the state’s first batch of essential health care workers to receive initial doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

TMA physician experts created a chart to help Texans make informed choices about which activities are safest to do during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physician members of the TMA COVID-19 Task Force and the TMA Committee on Infectious Diseases prepared the chart. The doctors rated the activities assuming that participants are wearing a mask when practical, staying at least 6 feet away from people who are not immediate family members, and washing their hands frequently.

Need PPE but have trouble meeting vendor minimums? Have you had difficulty accessing the state supply? Look no further. Now you can use TMA's new Texas-based PPE vendor guide, with information to help locate what you need from vendors that can supply small- to medium-sized practices with little or no minimum order quantities.

Physicians, public health officials, and many other health care professionals take their responsibilities seriously. They not only treat those who become sick, but they work hard to prevent illness before it begins.

As more reports come in on the spread of coronavirus COVID-19, TMA has convened a task force of public health experts to help Texas physicians prepare for the next phase. We’ve started by compiling all the news and information you need right now on our online resource center. Bookmark that page as we will update it continually.

COVID-19 Resource Center  

The way the Texas Legislature conducts business during the 2021 session may look different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Texas Medical Association’s commitment to improving health care remains the same. Some of those goals are up against deep cuts to state agency budgets. At the same time, however, the pandemic has created opportunities for medicine to bend lawmakers’ ear on some of its longstanding goals, including advancing access to care, vaccines, health coverage, and telemedicine./p> Top-Line Items:
The Budget and More  

At the 2020 Texas Medical Association Advocacy Retreat on Saturday, Debra Patt, MD, chair of TMA’s Council on Legislation, laid out a preview of medicine’s top legislative priorities for the upcoming session.

Final tallies in federal races may still be pending, but Texas voters have spoken. Loudly. And their votes will help medicine maintain a strong voice in the Texas Legislature.

At an unprecedented live virtual meeting Saturday, the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates took action on a variety of initiatives important to the health of all Texans, including adopting policy to address health care disparities specifically related to cancer; laying the foundation for the creation of an LGBTQ Health Section; and setting principles for community-based accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Since 1990, the Texas Medical Association has asked Texas physicians for their thoughts on health care practice, the economic realities of practicing medicine in the state, and what issues they believe lawmakers should take on.

To help community physicians during these challenging times, the Texas Medical Association Foundation (TMAF) has established the TMAF Caring for Physician Healers: Mental Health and Wellness Resources During COVID-19 Fund.

Americans should not be surprised that it took the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, under the knee of a white police officer to take the COVID-19 pandemic off the lead of every newscast, off the top of every mind, and off the tip of every tongue. Our great country was born with a big problem with racism. Today – 155 years after the end of the Civil War, 65 years after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, 28 years after Rodney King implored us to “all get along” – our great country still has a big problem with racism.

Susan Rudd Bailey, MD, is American physicians’ new leader in the battles against COVID-19 and outside interference in patient care. The Fort Worth allergist took the oath of office as president of the American Medical Association on Sunday, becoming the sixth Texas physician to lead the organization.

Like most independent medical practice physicians struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, Austin pediatrician Brian Temple, MD, had to make a critical choice: reduce salaries and work hours, or lose the staff and pediatric practice he and his partner had built over six years.

The Texas Medical Association (TMA) installed Houston emergency physician Diana L, MD, as its 155th president. She took office in a ceremony before a live and online gathering of the organization’s Board of Trustees and outgoing president David C. Fleeger, MD. The TMA House of Delegates policymaking body elected Dr. Fite last year to serve as president-elect for one year before assuming the presidency today. She will lead America’s largest state medical society for one year.

A panel of medicine’s representatives in the Texas Legislature said Saturday that 2019 was a good year for medicine in Austin, but unfinished business remains for the next session in 2021.

According to a nationwide survey of health care professionals conducted last year, several specialties have burnout rates of 50 percent or more. Hospitalists led the survey, with 66 percent of respondents feeling burnt out.

TMA Physician Health and Wellness provides educational resources regarding well-being, dimensions of meaning in work, burnout, stress, work-life integrations, fatigue, mental/emotional quality of life, and physical quality of life.

Cyber criminals are working harder than ever during the COVID-19 public health emergency. This is no time to let down your cyber guard.

Thanks to a generous grant from Texas Medical Association Insurance Trust, dozens of CME courses in the TMA Education Center are now FREE for members.

You can keep up with federal and state requirements that affect your practice by regularly checking TMA's Deadlines for Doctors.