Physician Advocacy

As physicians and other health care workers risk their health, stretch themselves thin, and deal with uncertain availability of resources to fight COVID-19, the Texas Medical Association is asking Gov. Greg Abbott to restrict litigation stemming from the pandemic.

The TMA COVID-19 Task Force has issued a statement on homemade masks based mostly on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for both medical professionals and the general public.

The Texas Medical Association, American Medical Association, and numerous other medical societies are calling on congressional leaders to include provisions in the pending coronavirus stimulus legislation that will “sustain physicians and their practices” as they struggle to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The battle already has begun. We have no time to wait. In a letter to Governor Abbott today, I urged that all personal protective equipment (PPE) from all non-health care industries be diverted to our current fight, by any means necessary. I told him, point blank, that the current shortage of PPE in Texas is unacceptable.

The Texas Medical Association Coronavirus Task Force on Tuesday told state lawmakers and fellow physicians to prepare to combat the disease, which so far has affected only a handful of people in Texas.

As lawmakers continue their work on a federal solution to surprise medical bills, the Texas Medical Association is on guard to make sure patients will be protected – and physicians get a fair shot to get paid properly.

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is obviously intent on picking a fight with physicians. No thanks. We’ll take the high road, fully aware of the dangers of their plans, and stick with what we know is best for our patients: the physician-led health care team.

TMA physician leaders, along with their colleagues from California and the rest of the country, are on Capitol Hill this week, lobbying Congress to toss out a California-inspired provision from a rapidly moving health insurance bill.

Nearly every one of the 132 legislative candidates endorsed by TEXPAC, the Texas Medical Association political action committee, won their party’s nomination in the March 3 primary. Another five are headed for runoff elections on May 26. Only two lost outright.

A panel of lawmakers and physicians participated in a state Parent Teacher Association (PTA) town hall event at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday. The panel discussed the vaping health epidemic; issues with implementation of a state law passed last year that raised the minimum age to use or purchase tobacco products – including vaping devices – to 21; and the need for support to help students quit.

I call for our TMA to bring all of these groups together to directly address the issue of the uninsured in Texas, to plan a strategy, and to put it in motion.

The state’s new law allowing arbitration of payment disputes on certain out-of-network care carries concerns for physicians and uncertainty about what it will look like from an enforcement standpoint, a panel told the Texas Medical Association Winter Conference on Saturday morning.

Hospitals and emergency departments should provide specific forms of identification for patients with hearing loss, the Texas Medical Association emphasized to the Texas Hospital Association last year.

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has adopted an emergency rule outlining the narrow circumstances when it will be legal for physicians to balance bill patients under the state’s new law that protects patients from surprise medical bills.

As one attack on the state’s medical ethics committee review law ends, another is in progress. Once again, the Texas Medical Association is telling a court medicine backs the law.

Federal lawmakers must pass a bill that would allow states to provide 12 months postpartum coverage to mothers who lose Medicaid coverage two months after giving birth, and would provide a bump in Medicaid matching dollars for those states, medicine and others said in a letter this week.

After meeting with the Texas Medical Association, the state comptroller’s office will postpone the date that medical practices will be required to pay taxes on medical billing services by an outside company. The comptroller’s office in November announced that medical billing services would be subject to sales and use taxes beginning Jan. 1. That date has been pushed back to April 1.

Among a number of health care-related topics, the Texas House of Representatives during the interim “off” year in 2020 will study the state’s behavioral health system, child trafficking prevention, and the effect of technology and “big data” on insurance. House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton) recently released the chamber’s interim charges.

One year from now, Texas voters will hit the polls. They’ll be voting for president, for Congress, and for seats in the Texas Legislature. At the state and national levels, health coverage, Medicaid access, and prescription drug costs have gotten plenty of attention already, and they’ll get plenty more between now and the closing of the polls on Nov. 3, 2020. Here’s a look at some of the major health care debates taking center stage during the 2020 election cycle, what voters are and will be hearing about, and what TMA policy says on those particular issues.

Texas’ nation-leading uninsured rate will be under the state senate’s microscope in 2020 as part of the interim charges Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has assigned to senate committees.

The bad news keeps coming for Texas’ uninsured rate. Between 2016 and 2018, Texas tied for the second-highest jump in the rate of uninsured children among all 50 states, according to a study released Wednesday by Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families in Washington, D.C.

When President Donald Trump released an executive order earlier this month that would, in part, expand the scope of practice of nonphysician practitioners, the Texas Medical Association vowed to keep physicians at the head of the health care team. On Monday, TMA President David Fleeger, MD, took a major step to do that, urging President Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar to remove that language entirely.

TMA scored on a wide range of goals to improve the state’s medical landscape during this year’s session of the Texas Legislature, which concluded in May.

The 2019 Texas Legislature is now in session — and TMA is ready to fight for medicine. See our plan to help Texas physicians put the health back into health care.