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'They Came in Droves': Former TMA President Douglas Curran, MD, Starts an FQHC - 9/27/2024 8:15:46 PM

Over Douglas Curran, MD's 40-year span as a family physician in Athens – where the uninsured rate at 23% is higher than the state average – he didn’t mind receiving pecan pie as a form of payment. “I took care of...
On Call for Little Heads: 30 Years of Hard Hats - 9/27/2024 7:41:33 PM

Portland family medicine physician James Mobley, MD, remembers the fear he experienced when his daughter fell from her bicycle as a child and subsequently suffered a concussion – an injury he admits could have been “totally prevented” if she had donn...
Ask “Dr. ChatGPT”: What Physicians Should Know About AI - 8/28/2024 10:37:05 PM

As a Dallas emergency physician, Harvey Castro, MD, began experimenting with ChatGPT – an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot trained on data from the internet to generate human-like responses to text prompts – in November 2022 after asking himself ...
Class Care: School-Based Health Centers Deliver Care to At-Risk Youth - 8/27/2024 10:47:01 PM

School-based health centers (SBHCs) are designed to improve efficiency in health care, and that showed recently at the Manor Mustang Health Center, which serves a geographically large area between Austin and Elgin. A young student presented wit...
Enjoying Employment: Texas Physicians Trend Away from Independent Practice - 8/14/2024 11:59:45 PM

For Michael Wood, MD, San Angelo was initially just going to be a place to stay for four years to pay off medical school debt. The Florida-raised, North Carolina-educated physician had no West Texas roots. As he finished up...
COVID-19 Cases Up Again; What You Should Know - 8/14/2024 5:36:57 PM

Aug. 14, 2024 COVID-19 cases are up again, with case numbers in Texas and nearby states leading the way, according to two public health measurements. Texas is one of the states with the highest level of cases, “very high,” according to the Augus...
New TMA Policy Guides Physicians on Mental Health Problems Tied to Social Media Use - 6/26/2024 5:43:03 PM

Pediatricians and family physicians have a rich body of evidence testifying to the influence that smartphones and social media can have on children’s health, says Pasadena pediatrician Lindy McGee, MD, chair of the Texas Medical Association’s Committ...
Changing History: How TMA Has Influenced the Course of Texas Medicine - 6/4/2024 8:39:07 PM

The Texas Medical Association’s 171-year existence is rich with milestones. From ushering in significant legislative reforms and responding to emergencies to expanding its own operations and solving seemingly intractable problems, TMA has played an...
Dawn Duster Examines “Rubik’s Cube” of New DNR Law - 4/23/2024 3:20:54 PM

The new Texas law on in-hospital do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders is like a Rubik’s Cube, Austin attorney Missy Atwood told physicians Saturday during the Dawn Duster presentation at the Texas Medical Association’s 2019 Winter Conference. “One, they ...
Seeking Balance: TMA Opposes Feds' Implementation of the No Surprises Act - 4/9/2024 5:28:18 PM

When Congress passed the No Surprises Act in 2020, it was supposed to be a boon for patients: Take patients out of the middle of certain out-of-network billing disputes between insurers, physicians, and hospitals, and give them more transparency in t...
Medicare May Seek Payment Recoupment for 2023 Claims - 4/9/2024 3:04:17 PM

A new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows physicians may face possible recoupments – or additional payment – for claims filed in 2023 as a result of over and underpayments by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs....
Quality of Life: Pay-for-Quality Programs Increasingly Address Nonmedical Drivers of Health - 3/15/2024 6:25:35 PM

Physicians who track their patients’ nonmedical drivers of health – the conditions in which they live, work, and play – frequently see the difference it makes just as if they prescribed the right medicine or surgery, says Tyler family medicine specia...
Exceptional Circumstances: TMA Advocates “Legislative Clarity” Amid State Abortion Bans - 3/5/2024 4:56:43 PM

A recent lawsuit filed by a pregnant woman in Texas seeking an abortion because of a fatal fetal diagnosis made national headlines and spotlights the legal labyrinth in which Texas patients and the physicians who care for them now find themselves. ...
Stop Paying to Get Paid - 2/28/2024 6:35:57 PM

Would you pay $50 to deposit $1,000 into your bank account? You might be doing just that. When health plans pay you with a virtual credit card (VCC) — and many are paying that way — you could be losing as much 2 percent to 5 percent per transaction....
New 24/7 Hotline to Assist in Treatment for Infected Newborns - 2/23/2024 9:30:12 PM

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio recently debuted a 24/7 telehealth help line to assist pediatric infectious disease specialists in treating neonatal illnesses, namely congenital syphilis, whose rates continue to rise...
El Paso Physician Broadcast Takes Creative Approach to Fight Vaccine Hesitancy - 2/14/2024 6:56:15 PM

No stranger to vaccine hesitancy, a group of El Paso physicians took a creative approach to addressing and other health concerns for patients who may need it most. The result: The El Paso Physician, a monthly video broadcast on the city’s PBS affilia...
TMA Web Site Privacy Statement - 1/9/2024 8:53:33 PM

Principles for Privacy and Confidentiality The following principles reflect Texas Medical Association's commitment to maintain the Web site visitor's rights to privacy and the confidentiality of personal information. In this context, privacy refers ...
ICD-10 Code Search Tool - 12/6/2023 6:27:29 PM

When you need to find the right ICD-10 code, use a free tool offered by e-MDs. With the e-MDs ICD-10 Code Search Tool, you can apply the right ICD-10 coding at the point of patient contact, improving your rate of accepted claims. Use keywords, abbre...
Medical Records and the Divorced Parent - 12/6/2023 6:02:13 PM

Q. Do both divorced parents have a right to access the information in their minor child’s chart? A. Both parents have the right to access the child’s medical records unless specifically limited by the court granting the divorce. According to Texas ...
Misdirected: Health Plan Directories See Damaging Gaps Awaiting Final Rules - 12/4/2023 7:50:07 PM

Cypress neurologist Navin Kesari, MD, didn’t expect to be removed from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas’ (BCBSTX’s) network directory. He’d had no prior issues with the health plan’s directory, and no reason to believe that woul...
CMS Strengthens Price Transparency for Hospitals - 11/29/2023 5:43:15 PM

A new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule aims to strengthen hospital price transparency regulations for 2024, a move physicians hope will address weaknesses in prior policy that hindered them and patients from making inform...
Anson Jones Awards: How to Enter - 11/20/2023 8:11:02 PM

ONLINE ENTRY FORM Please submit an online entry form for each award entry. If a team contributed to an entry, please list a maximum of four contributors. If you need to submit electronic documents not available online, send to TM...
E-Tobacco Protocol Integrates Intervention Into EHRs - 11/13/2023 6:06:00 PM

For adult and adolescent patients, physicians now have a seamless way to intervene for tobacco cessation in the form of the eTobacco Protocol, a referral tool integrated into electronic health records (EHRs). The eTobacco Protocol is a project...
The Texas Medicare Manifesto II - 11/2/2023 5:16:48 PM

By TMA President Josie R. Williams, MD Every year, for almost a decade, organized medicine and Congress go through the same tedious motions. Physicians plead with Congress: "Fix the faulty funding formula Medicare uses to pay physicians: ...
Inspiring Choices: Mentorship Can Boost African-American Representation in Medicine - 10/20/2023 11:51:16 PM

Vivian H. Porche, MD, has been mentoring young African American students since the 1990s, but only a handful followed in her footsteps to become a physician. One of those rare successes came last month when Victoria Beamer, MD, walked across the stag...
Leading in Crisis: Diana L. Fite, MD, Carried TMA During COVID-19 Pandemic - 10/3/2023 4:26:20 PM

Diana Fite, MD, became president of the Texas Medical Association in 2020-21 after building up decades of experience in organized medicine, and she needed every minute of it to lead Texas physicians through a novel challenge: COVID-19. TMA president...
“When Everything Inside of You Just Wants to Quit, PBF Is There.” - 9/8/2023 3:41:23 PM

Without help from the Texas Medical Association’s Physician Benevolent Fund, Marie Haeffner-Reeves believes she and her husband wouldn’t have had the resources to rise above the financial difficulties that became unmanageable after he experienced hea...
What You Need to Know About the Texas MOC Law - 8/23/2023 8:21:40 PM

You may have heard that the Texas Legislature, with strong backing from the Texas Medical Association, passed a tough new law that protects physicians from being forced to undergo maintenance of certification (MOC). But you may be wondering, what do...
Help for You to Master the ABCs of QPP, MIPS, MACRA - 8/21/2023 8:24:03 PM

Fall is right around the corner. Crazy, isn’t it? This year has practically flown by. So as 2017 is starting to wind down, are you any more familiar with MACRA, QPP, MIPS, and APMs than you were in January? (If you had to look up those acronyms, the...
Patient Care Protected: Women's Reproductive Health - 8/14/2023 2:27:15 PM

Related content: 2023 Legislative Wrap-Up: TMA Secured Big Wins With a New Strategy TMA Priority: Get clarity for physicians on how they can safely treat pregnant women while protecting the patient-physician relationship. Physician-Led Results: Phy...
COVID-19: Telemedicine - 7/20/2023 8:36:06 PM

Go to the COVID-19 Resource Center. FAQs and "How-to's" Telemedicine: What You Need To Know for COVID-19 and Beyond Telemedicine: Getting Started – TMA “how-to” guide Legal Texas Laws and Regulations Relating to Tele...
Getting Started in Texas - 7/20/2023 7:21:54 PM

Welcome to Texas! As the saying goes, everything is bigger and better in Texas. And that holds true for the Texas Medical Association. More than 53,000 physicians and medical students have chosen to be members of TMA. That many of your col...
Legislative Hotline Feb. 11, 2021: TMA, Lawmakers Seek to Strengthen State Immunization Registry - 7/17/2023 10:02:47 PM

The time is now to transform Texas’ immunization registry and make it an “opt-out” system in which patient participation is otherwise automatic – just like nearly every other state. That’s what the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Hospital Assoc...
Medical Power of Attorney - 7/17/2023 9:42:22 PM

Information for Patients, Physicians, and Providers General Information The full advance directives statute is at Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 166. All legal citations herein are to that chapter. December 2018 Medical Power o...
Mastering Quality Reporting: Ease the Challenge of Quality Reporting - 7/10/2023 6:46:14 PM

Abilene family physician Dean Schultz, MD, recalls how quality reporting has changed over the years – for better or worse. “Originally, this process wasn’t that complex, at least for me. But over the years, it has taken on a life of its own,” said D...
Texas Physicians Push to Improve Health Care for LGBTQ Patients - 6/28/2023 11:37:49 PM

September 3, 2019 The bottom line: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ) patients face unique barriers that put them at greater risk for mental and physical health problems. Often, their health disparities result from a l...
Television Rules and Instructions - Anson Jones Awards - 6/28/2023 9:04:30 PM

Each year, TMA honors award-winning Texas general-interest news media with the Anson Jones, MD, Awards. Winners receive $1,000 and a plaque. Citation of Merit winners receive $250 and a certificate. The competition is free to enter, so Texas tel...
Physician-Led Results: Women’s Reproductive Health - 6/28/2023 3:17:04 PM

Goal: Get clarity for physicians on how they can safely treat pregnant women while protecting the patient-physician relationship. Recap: Physicians entered the 2023 legislative session with heavy concerns over and difficulties in interp...
Meet the TMA Knowledge Center’s Information Specialists - 6/28/2023 2:31:23 PM

With the broad charge of accurately and quickly answering questions about practice management, membership, and benefits and services, the staff of TMA’s Knowledge Center has an often-heavy load to lift. But with 20 years of history ...
Hard Hats for Little Heads: TMA’s Helmet Giveaway Saves Lives - 6/14/2023 10:27:02 PM

In 1993, a near tragedy showed San Angelo pain specialist Larry Driver, MD, a really great way to help people. “A neighbor child was riding her bicycle and hit her head on the curb and suffered a concussion,” he told Texas Medi...
TMA Awards Highest Honor to Two Physicians: “This is Why Organized Medicine Is So Important” - 5/27/2023 3:59:28 AM

The Texas Medical Association typically recognizes one physician each year with the Distinguished Service Award – it’s highest honor. But this year, two champions of organized medicine received the award at TexMed 2023 in Fort Worth: TMA past Preside...
Help TMA Fight Independent Practice For APRNs - 5/2/2023 10:10:14 PM

Just as they do every time the Texas Legislature meets, allied health practitioners are trying to convince lawmakers they can do what physicians do – without having to go to medical school first. In the opening weeks of the 2019 legislative session,...
Fri 1100a 202A Transgender RC REVISED words to know 1019 - 4/28/2023 10:02:25 PM
Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioids, Alcohol, Tobacco: What You Should Know - 4/19/2023 3:23:10 PM

Concern about opioids – especially the growing threat of overdose posed by illicit fentanyl – has created heightened awareness about treatment options for people with substance use disorders. One of the oldest and most effective is medication-assiste...
Get to Know the TMA Board of Trustees - 4/3/2023 3:50:09 PM

At-Large Members G. Ray Callas, MD, Chair (Beaumont)Keith A. Bourgeois, MD, Vice Chair (Houston)John T. Carlo, MD (Dallas)Lisa L. Ehrlich, MD (Houston)Cynthia A. Jumper, MD (Lubbock)Kimberly E. Monday, MD (Hou...
Stop Maternal Deaths: Texas Report Reinforces TMA Legislative Priorities - 3/10/2023 12:45:44 AM

The latest biennial survey of maternal death and illness shows why the Texas Medical Association made improving maternal health one of its top priorities for the current state legislative session. The report found that Texas ...
Lobbying Tips - 2/27/2023 10:00:10 PM

The involvement of physicians, medical students and alliance members is critical to the success of TMA's grassroots lobbying efforts. A vital asset to TMA's professional lobbying team, only you can give your state legislators the mos...
TMA Board of Councilors Current Opinions - 2/25/2023 10:59:46 PM

TMA Board of Councilors Current Opinions INTRODUCTION The Board of Councilors serves as the ethical policy making body of the Texas Medical Association. First constituted in 1903, the Board is composed of a Councilor and Vice Councilor from the 15 ...
How Is Technology Impacting Your Practice? TMA Wants to Know - 2/22/2023 9:04:49 PM

The Texas Medical Association has conducted numerous health information technology (HIT) surveys over the years to help guide TMA advocacy and develop physician resources. Here’s your chance again to tell TMA how technology is impacting your practice...
Tell Congress to Oppose Surprise Bill Compromise - 2/10/2023 6:33:05 PM

If you see patients, if you take private insurance, you need to know that Congress is about to let Big Insurance set your fee schedule even lower than it is now... if they let you into their ever-narrowing networks. The Texas Medical Association st...