Stories from Texas Medicine, April 2020

TMA Brings its Fite: Incoming TMA President Diana Fite, MD - 05/04/2020

Incoming TMA President Diana Fite, MD, plans to take on low Medicaid pay and the litany of intrusions taking time away from patient care and contributing to physician burnout

Back to the Heart - 04/30/2020

Cancer survivor Lee Tomlinson will stress compassionate care at TexMed 2020.

“Absurd” Contract Dodge Rejected: Court Lets Cancer Center’s Debt-Collection Suit Proceed - 04/30/2020

Appeals court denies “free speech” challenge to cancer center’s debt-collection suit.

It’s Your House – Come On In - 03/31/2020

The Texas Medical Association House of Delegates. That’s a mouthful. It’s also a great house. And it’s your house. The House of Delegates is nearly 600 women and men physicians, residents, and medical students of all specialties

Talk to Patients About: Cleanliness vs. Vaccines - 03/31/2020

Historical data proves vaccines work. Year-over-year rates for vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough show that the number of cases drops sharply and remains low after a vaccine is introduced. Anti-vaccine activists have a theory to explain away this data. They say the rise of cleanliness and hygiene in the late 1800s – not vaccines – was the real force in stopping these diseases.

Bracing for the Big Ones: Novel Diseases like COVID-19 Could Test Texas' Public Health System - 03/31/2020

Novel diseases like COVID-19 could be a tough test for Texas’ public health system.

Seeking a Measure of Reason: TMA Joins Collaborative to Standardize Quality Metrics - 03/31/2020

TMA joins collaborative seeking to identify and standardize quality metrics.

Going Nowhere: APM Committee Resignations Cast Doubt on Payment Models' Future - 03/31/2020

Resignations from HHS advisory committee cast doubt on future of physician-created alternative payment models.

Desegregating Medicine: Edith Irby Jones, MD, Broke Barriers in All-White Medical Schools in the South - 03/31/2020

 Houston internist Edith Irby Jones, MD, broke barriers in all-white medical schools in the South and in her hometown of Houston. She died at age 91.

In Defense of Public Health: Peter Hotez, MD, on the Comeback of Preventable Diseases - 03/31/2020

Preventable diseases are back on the map, and Peter Hotez, MD, Texas’ most outspoken vaccine researcher, says physicians need to think globally to help stop the trend.