Physician Advocacy

Responding to strong concerns from the Texas Medical Association and other physician organizations, a top federal official announced Thursday that physicians who at least try to comply with new Medicare payment rules next year will see no penalty in their 2019 payments.

The 140 days the Texas Constitution allocates every other year for a state legislative session is never enough time for lawmakers to study and grasp all they need to do with the most complex issues. House and Senate committees use the time between sessions — the interim — to conduct research, hold hearings, and draft bills. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus have laid out their interim charges to the committees.

TMA's Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act Resource Center is poised to equip physicians for the paradigm shift in Medicare payment.

At its Aug. 25 meeting, TMB voted to adopt without change its recently proposed call coverage rules. The rules outline requirements for two models for call coverage: a reciprocal call coverage arrangement for physicians in the same or similar specialty and a nonreciprocal arrangement that does not require reciprocal call coverage.

Maintenance of certification (MOC) has long riled the nation's physicians over what doctors say are costly, burdensome, and frivolous programs. Many physicians also question the financial motives of the certifying boards and debate the impact of MOC on patient outcomes.

It's that time in the state's two-year budget cycle when state agencies prepare funding requests for the Texas Legislature to consider in next year's session. No agency's budget is more important to physicians than that of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), whose massive portfolio includes the state's Medicaid, public health, mental health, and women's health programs.

TMA is not impressed with TMB's proposed new rules concerning informal show compliance proceedings and informal settlement conferences (ISCs). TMA tells TMB the association wants an overhaul of the ISC process to make it more fair and transparent. TMA expresses strong opposition to the proposed rule and states that "instead of allowing the process to become fairer and more transparent, the proposed rule makes ISCs more like a formal administrative hearing without the guaranteed accompanying protections."

In a monumental step forward, the 2015 Texas Legislature created the state's first-ever permanent graduate medical education (GME) fund to expand the physician workforce, and Texas medical educators want to make sure it stays that way.  

Just days after the TMA House of Delegates adopted TMA's plan to preserve physicians' rights to bill for services and protect patients from surprise bills, TMA Council on Legislation Chair Ray Callas, MD, presented it to the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce.