Texas’ new opioid
prescribing rules, board certification, and lawsuits top the list of popular topics
that Texas Medicine Today covered this
year.
Want to know what
else intrigued Texas physicians in 2018? Here’s a list of our top 10 most read stories
for our inaugural year. Drumroll please…
1.
Are You Ready
for Changes to Opioid Prescribing in Texas? Changes to the state’s prescription process for certain
controlled substances are taking place. Here’s what you need to know.
2.
Could Your
Board Certification Be Threatened? A Texas subspecialist in an underserved area lost his board
certification without warning or a chance to plead his case. His is a
cautionary tale.
3.
Hospital System
Sued Again Over Alleged Peer Review Misconduct. Texas’ largest not-for-profit
hospital system again faces allegations of mishandling the peer review process.
This time, it’s accused of trying to funnel peer review information to people
who shouldn’t see it.
4.
Physician
Assistants to Explore Changing Title. Physician assistants may go by a different
name in the future under a resolution the American Academy of PAs passed during
its annual conference in May.
5.
Health
Advisory: Be on the Lookout for Cyclosporiasis. Illnesses caused by the
parasite Cyclospora rose in 2018. Large clusters were reported in Bexar, Harris,
and Travis counties.
6.
Proposed
Medicare Fee Overhaul Could Box In Doctors. In July, the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a dramatic fee overhaul. This
immediately sounded alarms for Texas physicians, especially those who oversee
complex office visits.
7.
Medicine Mourns
Death of Revered Cardiologist. Texas physicians remember Mark Hausknecht, MD, an esteemed
interventional cardiologist who was fatally shot July 20 in the parking lot of
Houston Methodist Hospital.
8.
Hospital
Employee Fired After Refusing to Reveal Peer-Review Info, Lawsuit Claims. A former peer review
coordinator at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston sued her old employer
this year, claiming she was fired after refusing to illegally reveal
confidential peer-review information to a non-peer-review committee.
9. For End-of-Life
Care, Fresh Challenges Begin.
The logistics of entering a valid in-hospital
do-not-resuscitate order became more complex in April when a law — the product
of Senate Bill 11 from the 2017 special session of the Texas Legislature — laid
out new requirements affecting physicians in hospitals or health care
facilities.
10. The Top Five
Things That Get Physicians Sued. In this video, our colleagues at Texas Medical Liability Trust share
the top five issues that could leave you open to a medical liability lawsuit.
Texas Medicine
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