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Your Billing and Collections Checklist for 2025 - 01/10/2025

TMA’s Reimbursement Services staff work year-round with physicians and health plans to help make sure you get paid correctly and on time. They’ve put together a list of practical actions you can take at the start of 2024 to keep your billing and collections on track throughout the year.

TMA’s Top Legislative Priorities: Protect Immunizations to Protect Public Health - 01/06/2025

TMA will work to safeguard immunizations this legislative session.

TMA Grants to Help Your Practice Improve Local Vaccination Rates - 11/27/2024

Apply for a grant. Vaccines Defend What Matters (formerly Be Wise – Immunize) is TMA’s integrated, multimedia public health education and advocacy effort to overcome vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccination rates in Texas. 

Talk to Patients About: Varicella - 09/19/2024

The varicella-zoster virus  does double-duty: It can cause chickenpox when you’re young and reactivate later in life as a painful, blistery rash called shingles. Well, there’s a vaccine for each disease.

Talk to Patients About: Rubella - 09/19/2024

The virus that causes rubella often appears deceptively mild — so mild in fact that one-quarter to half of people infected with it will have no symptoms at all, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Vaccination is the best protection.

CMS Ups Seasonal Flu Vaccine Payment - 09/09/2024

On Aug. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services increased payments to physicians for influenza vaccines and updated which codes physicians should use when billing for the service during the 2024-25 flu season.

Science: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism; Physicians Fight to Reassure, Immunize - 08/09/2024

Physicians repeat it over and over: Vaccines like the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine do not cause autism; they are safe and effective. Yet the decades-old false claim that vaccines do cause autism has convinced millions of parents not to give their children potentially lifesaving shots and could lead more to opt out, according to Texas physicians.

TMA Vaccination Grants Connect Hard-to-Reach Patients; Apply by May 1 - 03/28/2024

Dozens of patients in the Lubbock area are up to date on their vaccinations thanks to a local impact grant from the Texas Medical Association, which has opened the latest 2024 application cycle for vaccine outreach programs until May 1.

Mumps: Virus Causes Puffy Cheeks and Sometimes, Serious Complications - 03/27/2024

The bottom line: Mumps is a viral contagious disease. People know mumps for patients’ swollen cheeks and jaw, but patients also suffer fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, and loss of appetite. Outbreaks occur every year in the United States and Texas. The MMR vaccine protects people against this disease.

Medicare Sunsets Beleaguered Appropriate Use Criteria Program - 03/14/2024

After longstanding opposition from the Texas Medical Association and others, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finally nixed the appropriate use criteria program for advanced diagnostic services as part of the 2024 Medicare physician fee schedule.

Measles: Updated Information and Resources Available to Fight Rising Cases - 02/21/2024

As measles cases continue to rise in Texas and across the U.S., the Texas Medical Association and Texas Hospital Association have created a document to help physicians and other health care professionals combat the highly contagious respiratory illness. The document provides the latest recommendations for diagnosing and reporting measles, immunizations, infection prevention and control, and post-exposure prophylaxis and exclusion.

Pregnant? Make Sure You’re Vaccinated to Protect Yourself, Baby From Disease - 02/21/2024

Vaccinations before and during pregnancy are important to protect both mother and baby. Three vaccinations are recommended: flu, Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis), and MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella).

Revenue Cycle Assessment - 01/22/2024

A TMA consultant will conduct a review of your business office operations that focuses on front desk procedures, billing, collections and revenue cycle improvement. We will identify opportunities for improvement of billing processes and procedures.

Practice Operations Services - 01/22/2024

With the many challenges that face today's medical practices, business operations remain at the core of a practice's ability to be successful and profitable. Work with a TMA practice management consultant to identify and assess key or problematic areas of your practice.

Financial Management Services - 01/22/2024

Having sound financial policies and processes can help your practice attain a steady cash flow, maintain healthy collection ratios, increase staff efficiencies, and boost your overall bottom line.

Apply for a Grant to Help Promote Vaccines - 12/14/2023

More than ever, medicine needs its soldiers to promote the safety, efficacy, and importance of vaccines.

Bipartisan Legislation Would Prohibit Electronic Funds Transfer Fees - 12/08/2023

Recently introduced federal legislation could spare physicians from electronic funds transfer (EFT) fees, which payers routinely charge as a condition of electronic payment.

CMS Strengthens Price Transparency for Hospitals - 11/29/2023

A new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 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 informed health care decisions.

TMA Pushes for Elimination of Excessive Electronic Funds Transfer Fees - 09/22/2023

Payers routinely charge physicians the fees as a condition of electronic payment, often without consent. Alongside declining physician payment, the fees add to the threat to practice viability, and ultimately patients’ access to care. Read more.

Build Immunization Awareness During August - 09/11/2023

If you weren’t already aware, August is National Immunization Awareness Month. As a physician, you’re aware of how important vaccines are for public health. But some of your patients might not know or understand the benefits of getting vaccinated. Whether you’re talking to parents of young children, senior citizens, or anyone in between, TMA’s Be Wise – Immunize has some tools you can use.

Update: Ten Measles Cases Reported in Texas - 09/11/2023

Ten cases of measles have been reported in Texas this year, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said in a statement Wednesday. The 10th case is an adult who was visiting Guadalupe County from the Philippines, where there is an ongoing measles outbreak, the statement said. 

Using Social Media to Curb HPV on Campus - 09/11/2023

With funding help from the TMA Foundation, the association’s philanthropic arm, more than 100 students at Angelo State University in San Angelo and Tyler Junior College in Tyler received free HPV shots at their schools’ health fairs March 5 and 7.

Talk To Your Patients About: Mumps - 09/11/2023

The March issue of Texas Medicine highlights mumps, which spreads easily through sneezing and coughing, or just touching infected surfaces. A vaccine, first introduced in 1967, reduced U.S. cases by 99 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Talk to Your Patients About: Tetanus - 09/11/2023

The April issue of Texas Medicine highlights tetanus, which causes painful spasms that typically occur in jaw muscles but can wrack the entire body, and can be fatal.

Talk to Your Patients About: Meningococcal B - 09/11/2023

Texas Medicine recently highlighted Meningococcal B, a bacterial infection that can affect the blood, brain, and spinal cord with lasting effects like learning difficulties, hearing loss, or limb amputation. The Meningococcal B vaccine is relatively new, having won Food and Drug Administration approval in 2014.