Coronavirus

Vaccine Equity Gains: COVID-19 Vaccine Rate Disparities Narrow Amid Physician-Led Outreach - 05/13/2022

When the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began in mid-December 2020, many physicians, advocates, and community leaders worried the health disparities laid bare by the pandemic would repeat themselves.  But improved data collection and innovative outreach efforts – many of them led by Texas physicians and medical students – have helped close these gaps.

Deadlines Approaching for COVID Relief Fund Late-Reporting - 05/13/2022

If you got a loan from the federal COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund’s (PRF’s) first reporting period and requested to report your funds late, watch out for the government’s response to that request. And, if you got a loan from the fund’s second reporting period, good news: The deadline to request to report late has been extended – but you’ll have to act fast.

Texas Physician COVID Profiles - 05/10/2022

Read about the experiences of some Texas physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talk to Patients About: Should I Get Vaccinated if I’ve Had COVID-19? - 05/01/2022

There is a lot of misinformation about vaccines, so each month Texas Medicine highlights common concerns that patients raise about immunizations. This material is designed to help you talk to your patients and help them understand the benefits of vaccines. Find

Commissioned With Change : An Interview With HHSC Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young - 05/01/2022

As leader of the state’s largest agency, Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young is faced with some of the largest health care challenges among some of the most vulnerable patient populations. She visited the Texas Medical Association’s Winter Conference in late January to talk to Texas physicians about their concerns in caring for those patients, especially during a pandemic.

Leaders in the News: TMA Physicians Maximize Media Appearances - 05/01/2022

Since the pandemic began more than two years ago, TMA has deployed go-to people in media outlets across not just the state but also the nation and even the world. TMA’s trusted distillation of important information on public health measures, vaccines, and testing has raised physician leaders’ profiles, and invited both positive attention from believers in medicine and negative attention from anti-science forces.

Talk to Patients About: Natural Immunity vs. Vaccine Immunity for COVID-19 - 05/01/2022

Catching COVID-19 can provide people with a degree of immunity from being reinfected with the disease in the future. This prompts some to opt against vaccination and instead risk getting sick to obtain this “natural immunity” on the assumption they will get a mild case and it will protect them from future illness.

Mandatory Monthly COVID Vaccine Inventory Reporting Starts in May - 04/22/2022

Beginning in May, COVID-19 vaccinators will be required to make monthly reports of their vaccine inventory by the fifth of each month, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has told Texas Medicine Today.

Payer Flexibilities Continue With COVID Emergency Extension - 04/21/2022

The U.S. Department of Health and Services’ extension of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) until July 15, 2022, means many of the waivers that public and private payers instituted remain in place.

Feds Dole Out Millions More in Fourth Phase of COVID Relief Fund - 04/12/2022

The fourth phase of the federal government’s Provider Relief Fund continues to help out medical practices impacted by COVID-19, with federal health authorities recently announcing yet another round of funding to more than 3,600 practitioners nationwide.

FDA Cancels Authorization to Treat COVID With Sotrovimab - 04/06/2022

The monoclonal antibody sotrovimab is no longer authorized to treat COVID-19 in the U.S. following the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to pull its emergency use authorization.

Remdesivir Available for Outpatient Use to Treat COVID-19 - 04/05/2022

The antiviral medication remdesivir is now available for outpatient use in combating COVID-19, and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has sent a letter to COVID therapeutic administrators explaining how they can order the medication from the state’s distributor.

Texas Practitioners Get $100 Million in Latest COVID Provider Relief Distribution - 04/05/2022

Federal health authorities are once again disbursing billions through the Provider Relief Fund, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcing distribution of about $2 billion more in Phase 4 of the program, including more than $100 million to Texas health care practitioners.

New COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Gets FDA Emergency Authorization - 04/05/2022

There’s a new COVID-19 therapeutic on the market that has shown promise in fighting the omicron variant, and state health officials say it’s already in distribution across Texas.

Texas’ Black Physicians Lead Through Vaccine Education, Mentorship in Their Communities - 04/05/2022

Black physicians in Texas have a long history of community involvement, and COVID-19 has at once created more opportunities and underscored the importance of that work.

Emergency Doc Finds Building Patient Trust More Difficult During COVID - 04/05/2022

As the COVID-19 pandemic languishes into its third year, physicians continue to bear the brunt of its impact, from unpredictable surges to worsening burnout. Craig Meek, MD, an emergency medicine physician in East Texas and president of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians, has observed another more profound effect, which he suspects is changing the profession in irrevocable ways.

Make Sure Your COVID Vaccine Temp Calibration Is Current - 04/05/2022

All COVID-19 vaccinators must have proper storage unit temperature-monitoring equipment to keep their vaccine supplies viable – including current certificates of temperature calibration – or they won’t get their vaccine orders, the Texas Department of State Health Services has announced.

DSHS Taking Preorders of Pfizer COVID Vaccine for Kids as Young as 6 Months - 04/05/2022

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is requesting that COVID-19 vaccine administrators preorder Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months to 4 years while it awaits emergency use authorization from the federal government.

FDA Delays Consideration of Vaccine for Kids Under 5 - 04/05/2022

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) review of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 months through 4 years has been delayed to allow the agency to consider a potential third dose for that age group.

NIHCM Collects Data Showing Impact of COVID Boosters - 04/05/2022

Highlighting the effectiveness of COVID-19 booster shots – including their overwhelming effectiveness at preventing hospitalization and death – the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation has collected a slew of COVID-related data from other sources in its February newsletter, Cutting Through COVID-19 Confusion.

Planning to Test for COVID? You’ll Need a CLIA Waiver or Certification - 04/05/2022

The fast-spreading omicron variant has pumped up demand for COVID-19 testing, and that means physician offices need to make sure they have obtained the correct waiver or certification from the U.S. government to administer those tests.

Educating Residents Through the Pandemic - 04/05/2022

Before COVID-19 came along, Austin family physician Jonathan MacClements, MD, spent most of his time recruiting residents, training them, and creating more residency spots so there will be more physicians in the future.

CDC OK’s Moderna Adult COVID Vaccine - 04/05/2022

Moderna’s adult COVID-19 vaccine has now earned full approval following recommendation’s from both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) immunization panel.

Keynote Celebrates Past Medical Advances, Progress Amid COVID-19 - 04/05/2022

Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, bestselling author Steven Johnson planned to release his most recent book, Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer, in 2020. It marked a century since the end of the Spanish flu pandemic, during which time global life expectancy roughly doubled from 35 years to 70.

DSHS-led Panel Stresses Using Boosters to Fight Omicron - 04/05/2022

Physicians and public health officials have valuable tools at their disposal to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, such as masking, social distancing, and therapeutics. But the most important tools needed to fight the omicron variant can be summed up in three words: “booster, booster, booster,” John Hellerstedt, MD, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), told the general session of the Texas Medical Association’s 2022 Winter Conference.