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  • iconTexas Medicine Today - June 2025 - 6/29/2025 11:17:33 PM

    June 30, 2025 VA Seeking Refunds from Physicians for Past CHAMPVA Claims AI, Physician Finances to Headline Business of Medicine Conference Lone Star Caucus Supports Five Future Physicians with Scholarships June 27, 2025 Vaccines Still Off...

  • iconContaminant Containment: Countering Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Takes Physician Awareness and Prompt Reporting - 6/26/2025 6:27:48 PM

    Oysters. Bacon. Ice cream. What reads like a decadent shopping list or Mad Men-era prix fixe menu is also an incomplete list of vectors of foodborne illness from the past decade. Listeria monocytogenes – among the most lethal bacterial food poisonin...

  • iconThe Essence of Outreach: TMA Health Beat Broadens Its Audience to Advocate More Effectively for Physicians - 6/23/2025 8:51:48 PM

    Louise Bethea, MD, sometimes encounters resistance in persuading her patients with asthma to adhere to their daily medication regimen. It’s a problem she attributes, in part, to low health care literacy.  “Because they’re not symptomatic all th...

  • iconStudy: Maternal Mental Health Shows Significant Declines - 6/23/2025 7:30:52 PM

    A May JAMA Internal Medicine study found that self-reported mental health has declined significantly for mothers nationally since 2016, making physician readiness with resources for affected patients critical.  Study authors measured ...

  • iconTexas Exceeds Latest Recommendations to Quell Syphilis - 5/29/2025 1:21:50 PM

    As the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) reaffirms its 2018 recommendation for early, universal screening for syphilis infection during pregnancy, Texas eclipses that standard with testing requirements that aim to quell a nearly decade-lon...

  • iconTMA Honors Outstanding Physicians, Medical Students With Awards for 2025 - 5/9/2025 9:09:03 PM

    May 9, 2025 The Texas Medical Association (TMA) is honoring outstanding physicians and medical students across the state with awards for their contributions to their sections of the association’s membership, their community, and organized medicine. ...

  • iconPhysicians Combat Bad Bills at TMA’s Final First Tuesdays at the Capitol - 5/7/2025 7:10:45 PM

    A storm brewed inside and out of the Texas Capitol on Tuesday, May 6, as physicians, medical students, and Texas Medical Association Alliance members braved rain and thunder to unite during TMA’s final First Tuesdays at the Capitol of the 2025 legisl...

  • iconWhy You Need Business Associate Agreements - 5/7/2025 3:55:59 PM

     Are you sure you have a business associate agreement (BAA) with every vendor or company to which you disclose protected health information (PHI)? A medical practice in Illinois in April paid a $31,000 fine because it didn’t have a BAA with...

  • iconRecord Licensure Numbers Show Steady Workforce Progress - 4/23/2025 6:36:31 PM

    As Texas’ population continues to boom, so does its crop of newly licensed physicians, the Texas Medical Association’s annual Texas Physician Workforce Update reveals.   That report announces 7,609 medical licenses issued by the Texas Medi...

  • iconTexas Medicine Today - October 2023 - 4/17/2025 8:04:23 PM

    Oct. 31, 2023 CDC Grant Funds Drug Overdose Data Collection in Texas TMA Has Your Mandated CME – For Free  Smith County Podcast Sparks Alliance Connections Oct. 30, 2023 Feds Update HIPAA Security Risk Assessment Tool Proposition 8 A...

  • iconTexas Medicine Today - November 2023 - 4/17/2025 7:58:03 PM

    Nov. 30, 2023 CMS Strengthens Price Transparency for Hospitals Nov. 29, 2023 Deadline: Apply for 2023 MIPS Hardship Exemption by Jan. 2 Feds Extend Telemedicine Prescribing Flexibilities Through 2024 PAI Study Shows Cost-Savings of Physici...

  • iconTMA Mobilizes Against Nurse Scope Expansion Bill - 4/11/2025 6:57:27 PM

      The Texas Medical Association is mobilizing against a dangerous scope of practice bill set to go before the House Public Health Committee on Monday, April 14, that, if it advances, could erode Texas’ longstanding physician-led care model and ...

  • iconPhysician Legislators File Federal Prior Auth Reform Bill - 4/7/2025 8:15:46 PM

    Prior authorization (PA) is again the target of a federal bill recently re-introduced by physician legislators aiming to reform the process in Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Part D prescription drug plans.  The move comes just weeks after a ...

  • iconUPDATED: Closer to Home: TMA Reimagines its Event Strategy - 4/1/2025 10:49:43 PM

    *Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the change of the event to be held in El Paso in September. The Texas Medical Association has long held regular meetings in the central metropolitan areas of the state, bringing together hundred...

  • iconAre You Ready for Telemedicine Prime Time? - 2/7/2025 10:05:56 PM

    Like a stage actor who comes across awkward on a television or movie screen, you might find it challenging to connect with your patients during video telehealth visits.   When using telemedicine, the physician “is stepping into the patient’s en...

  • iconTaking Steps Together: Walk with a Doc Texas Improves Health and Communities - 1/15/2025 6:59:48 PM

    On the second Saturday of each month, Matt Bayazitoglu, MD, trades his white coat for a different accessory: a pair of walking shoes.  Rather than stepping into the rehab doctor’s office, his Walk with a Doc (WWAD) participants embark on a 2-mi...

  • iconTMA’s Top Legislative Priorities: Protect Medicine from Corporate Influence - 1/6/2025 5:17:22 PM

    Priority: Protect physician autonomy and keep nonmedical entities from interfering with patient care, particularly amid health care consolidation.  Background: In an increasingly consolidated health care market, physicians like Tony Aventa, M...

  • iconTMA’s Top Legislative Priorities: Seek Balanced Regulation of AI - 1/6/2025 5:15:46 PM

    Priority: Ensure artificial intelligence (AI) regulation supports physician practices but does not replace physicians’ medical expertise. Background: The success of AI in medicine depends on physician expertise at every step in the life cycle of an ...

  • iconTMA’s Top Legislative Priorities: Expand Access to Care with Telemedicine Payment Parity - 12/31/2024 7:59:11 PM

    Priority: Improve access to high-quality, physician-led telemedicine care that is covered at the same rate as in-person visits. Background: El Paso infectious disease specialist Ogechika Alozie, MD, witnessed more than half of his patients – many of...

  • iconMedicare Pays for End-of-Life Consults - 12/5/2024 7:09:16 PM

    The Move Could Help Reduce Unwanted Care and Promote Statewide Initiatives to Educate Patients and Physicians on Palliative Care   Economics Feature — June 2016  Tex Med. 2016;112(6):31-36. By Amy Lynn Sorrel Associate Editor Hous...

  • iconTexas Medicine Today - February 2023 - 12/5/2024 12:56:50 AM

    Feb. 28, 2023 Lege Poised to Boost GME Funding; TMA Urges Rural Workforce Investment New GME Program Creates Rural Training Opportunity Apply Now: Scholarships for Students Who Want to Serve the Underserved Feb. 27, 2023 Medicine Backs Pro...

  • iconAMA President-Elect Acclaims TMA Advocacy for Scope, Prior Auth Wins - 12/4/2024 9:52:29 PM

    Texas physicians’ advocacy accomplishments both in the state and alongside the American Medical Association earned praise from AMA’s president-elect at the Texas Medical Association’s Leadership Summit on Jan. 27.  Speaking to a standing-room-o...

  • iconProtect Patients From Inadequate, Narrow Networks - 11/18/2024 9:05:40 PM

    TMA Testimony by Jason Terk, MD Senate Business & Commerce CommitteeSenate Bill 1264 by Sen. Kelly Hancock March 21, 2019 Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for allowing me to testify today. My name is Dr. Jason Terk, and I am a pedia...

  • iconScoping Out the Best Care: TMA Defends Team-Based Care Model - 11/18/2024 6:39:16 PM

    At the outset of the 2023 legislative session, San Antonio pediatric anesthesiologist John Shepherd, MD, put on his white coat and marched to the pink dome in Austin to meet with several Bexar County lawmakers. Although the conversations were wide-r...

  • iconUpdate Your Digital Contact Info for Electronic Hospital Notices on Your Patients - 11/7/2024 3:46:10 PM

    Hospitals are required to let you know when they’ve seen your patient via an admit, discharge, or transfer (ADT) notice. To ensure that happens, physicians are required to make sure their digital contact information in a federal database is up to dat...

  • iconOn 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...

  • iconCMS Reopens 2023 MIPS Hardship Exception for Cyberattack - 9/26/2024 2:42:23 PM

    Thanks to medicine’s advocacy, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reopened a hardship exception for the 2023 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance period to account for February’s Change Healthcare cyberattac...

  • iconPolicies, Procedures and Forms for Telemedicine Services - 9/17/2024 10:40:58 PM

    Administration and Billing Appointment Scheduling Cancellations and No Shows Patient Check In and Check Out Patient Consent Patient Selection Physician Surroundings and Staff Prescribing and Medication Management Provider to Provider Communica...

  • iconAppointment Scheduling Cancellations and No Shows Telemedicine - 9/17/2024 6:53:01 PM

    Appointment Scheduling, Cancellations, and No-Shows Purpose To streamline telemedicine appointment scheduling and cancellations, and management of no-shows. Policy Staff conduct telemedicine appointment tasks including scheduling, canceling...

  • iconSuicide Risk in Kids With Adverse Childhood Experiences Exacerbated by Pandemic - 9/13/2024 10:38:04 PM

    Suicide and suicidal thoughts among high school students who have accumulated adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) became a concern among health care professionals before 2020. But the “social and educational disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic ...

  • iconEnjoying 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...

  • iconCOVID-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...

  • iconStanding Tall for Independence: TMA Advocates for Private Practice - 8/11/2024 8:37:41 PM

    Bridge City family physician Amy Townsend, MD, transitioned from hospital-based care to direct primary care in 2020 after “contemplating leaving medicine altogether.”  She felt the weight of financial strain, a heavy administrative workload, an...

  • iconKeep Them From Harm and Injustice? - 7/30/2024 6:57:42 PM

    The April 2018 issue of Texas Medicine highlights a significant problem that imperils quality of care and safety in hospitals: a culture of silence. Nearly 20 years ago, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 patients die a...

  • iconComing Up Short: TMA Workforce Report Underscores Access Challenges, Advocacy Wins - 5/6/2024 5:42:18 PM

    Odessa allergist and immunologist Vivek Rao, MD, is something of an outlier.  Well below retirement age at 49, he is younger than the average age of physicians in his specialty and in his region. Although Odessa is a metro area, it is surrounde...

  • iconTMA Moment in Time: Hurricane Harvey Response - 4/9/2024 5:21:20 PM

     For Beaumont plastic surgeon Benjamin Beckert, MD, Hurricane Harvey could have been a lot worse.    After the August 2017 storm dumped a record 60 inches of rain in four days on the Gulf Coast region, there was some flooding in ...

  • iconMedicare 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....

  • iconStudy: Non-Physician Practice Ownership Hurts Care Quality - 1/3/2024 7:59:54 PM

    As the Texas Medical Association continues to fight for physician autonomy amid increasing consolidation, new research shows the downsides of hospital- and corporate-owned practice settings for patients and physicians alike.  Nearly 60% of phys...

  • iconPAI Study Shows Cost-Savings of Physician-Owned Hospitals Amid Medicare Reform Debate - 11/8/2023 6:11:07 PM

    A recent study commissioned by the Physicians Advocacy Institute and The Physicians Foundation found physician-owned hospitals provide high-quality care at a lower cost to Medicare than traditional hospitals serving similar patient populations. ...

  • iconNew and Upgraded Major Donors in 2016 - 10/20/2023 9:20:27 PM

     Innovator Pon Satitpunwaycha, MD, Houston “As I reflect back, the most enjoyable and rewarding experience of my career was the academic years at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. But I am grateful for the opportunity this cou...

  • iconFDA Approves New RSV Vaccine, COVID-19 Booster - 10/19/2023 10:00:15 PM

    Physicians will have a new vaccine in their arsenal to help protect against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a timely development as cold, flu, and COVID-19 illnesses tend to converge and ramp up this time of year and become difficult to differenti...

  • iconOpening Doors: Texas’ Newest Medical Schools Founded to Improve Care for Underserved Patients - 10/3/2023 11:58:01 PM

    In the past decade, medical schools have been popping up across Texas, and the most recent growth has been focused in the eastern part of the state. In 2020, the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston and the Sam ...

  • iconTexas Medicine Today - September 2023 - 9/28/2023 10:50:48 PM

    Sept. 29, 2023 CMS To Deny Incomplete Claims on Discarded Drugs Starting in October TMA Pushes for Elimination of Excessive Electronic Funds Transfer Fees Revalidate Your Medicare and Medicaid Enrollment  Sept. 28, 2023 "Annual, Inc...

  • iconTexas is No. 1 in “Hotspots” For Vaccine Exemptions - 9/11/2023 4:17:01 PM

    Four Texas cities are at high risk of epidemics of vaccine-preventable infections in children, a new study on nonmedical exemptions (NMEs) shows. Houston, Fort Worth, Plano, and Austin are among the cities in the nation with the highest number of ki...

  • iconMost Texans Support Mandatory Childhood Vaccinations, Yet Another Poll Shows - 9/11/2023 4:14:32 PM

    Although an anti-vaccine movement has continued to grow in Texas, the vast majority of voters support requiring vaccinations for Texas children, results from a poll released this week show. This is the third public opinion survey with very similar f...

  • iconWatch Herd Immunity at Work - 9/11/2023 3:08:54 PM

      Vaccines work their magic in part thanks to herd immunity. Get enough people in a group -  the herd -  vaccinated and you can keep a disease from spreading. This works so effectively that even the relatively few...

  • iconLaw Would Help Improve Data Collection on Maternal Deaths - 9/6/2023 9:51:58 PM

    Experts agree that maternal deaths are a problem in the United States, but few agree on just how big the problem is. That's largely because the data that states collect on the number of maternal deaths often is not reliable.  HR 1318, a bill si...

  • iconPaying Plasma Centers Proliferate as Volunteer Blood Donors Dwindle - 9/5/2023 3:32:42 PM

    As demand for plasma for medicinal products continues to increase, some physicians caution that for-profit plasma centers may threaten an already fragile volunteer blood donation base.   An aging population in the U.S. simultaneously creat...

  • iconPatient 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...

  • iconMedicaid Drops Thousands of Texans; Many Still Qualify - 8/7/2023 7:32:03 PM

    Texas is four months into an ongoing process to “unwind” Medicaid continuous eligibility for the roughly 2.7 million residents who benefited from such coverage thanks to federal COVID-19 relief funding. But a recent state data report shows most ...