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Updated Booster FAQs for You and Your Patients - 11/30/2021

Shortly before Thanksgiving, federal health authorities approved booster shots for all adults either six months after their initial two-shot Pfizer or Moderna series, or two months after taking the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And on Nov. 29, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky took it one step further, recommending boosters for all adults (using those same timetables) in light of the emerging omicron variant.

Texas Prepares to Implement “Gold Card” Prior Auth Bill - 11/30/2021

Soon, physicians who’ve had their fill of insurers’ burdensome prior authorizations will have the chance to earn their way out of them. The Texas Medical Association wants to make sure the  new law giving doctors that “golden” opportunity will be implemented as intended – and is pushing back against health plans’ attempts to reduce its impact.

Update: OSHA Halts Enforcement of Federal Vaccine Mandate - 11/23/2021

For now, the Biden administration’s sweeping vaccination requirement for large employers is on hold after a federal appeals court blocked the regulation from going into effect, quickly responding to a lawsuit from Texas and other states. If eventually implemented, however, the administration’s rule, issued as part of a pair of regulations on Nov. 4, will carry implications for physicians in larger practice settings.

DSHS Report: COVID Vaccines Dramatically Prevent Infection and Deaths - 11/16/2021

Texas physicians have strongly encouraged patients to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and a new report from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has confirmed why that advice is sound.

TMA Helps Craft Amendment Guaranteeing In-Person Visitation in Nursing Homes - 11/15/2021

In overwhelmingly voting for nursing home residents to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visitation, Texas voters aligned themselves with a critical balance the Texas Medical Association helped lawmakers strike between the need for crucial emotional support in those settings and keeping public health threats at bay.

Pediatric and Adolescent COVID Vaccines Are Not the Same, DSHS Cautions Vaccinators - 11/12/2021

Pfizer’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine recently authorized for 5- to 11-year-olds is a different version from the drugmaker’s vaccine for adolescents and adults that comes with different storage and dosage requirements, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is cautioning pediatric vaccinators.

Questions About COVID Vaccine Boosters? TMA Has an FAQ for That - 11/12/2021

Now that booster shots for the COVID-19 vaccine have been approved, you are probably getting questions from your patients and have some of your own. The Texas Medical Association has you covered with two new resources.

CDC Recommends Pfizer COVID Pediatric Vaccine for Ages 5-11 - 11/03/2021

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) immunization panel and the agency’s director signed off Tuesday on recommending the Pfizer COVID-19 pediatric vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, allowing millions of children to receive their first shots against the disease.

Caring for Generation COVID: Pandemic Takes Increasing Toll on Kids' Mental Health - 11/03/2021

In addition to the devastating COVID-19 surge fueled by the delta variant, pediatricians like Valerie Smith, MD, and other specialists caring for children point to a shadow pandemic among young patients. The proportion of mental health-related visits for children is on the rise.

Ask the Expert: Requiring Employee COVID Testing - 11/03/2021

In light of a recent governor’s executive order banning COVID-19 vaccine requirements, physician practices may be wondering if instead they can require weekly COVID-19 testing from their employees.

Social Determinants Undermine Patient Health - 11/02/2021

For many patients, roadblocks like a broken air conditioner neglected by the landlord  are the social determinants of health that impact their well-being and quality of life, and can harm their health. Physicians say the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic also revealed how deeply social determinants disproportionately affect certain populations. For example, due to chronic structural inequities that affect wellbeing, such as safe housing, access to medical care, and certain jobs that carry a higher risk of disease exposure, COVID-19 has disproportionately sickened, hospitalized, and killed people of color and those with low incomes.

TMA Airs Pro-Vaccine Ads During Political Conventions - 11/01/2021

“Vaccines defend what matters – our health, jobs, families.” A new Texas Medical Association (TMA) ad campaign featuring that message will air during the Democratic and Republican conventions to remind Texans of the many ways vaccinations protect us.

Preventable Pain: COVID Surge, Anti-Vax Sentiments Compound Physicians' Turmoil on the Job - 11/01/2021

Pushback from patients on medical advice and course of treatment is nothing new. But physicians say the degree of it – a lack of trust in science, medicine, and expertise – has never been as pronounced as it is now, in the era of the highly contagious delta variant, widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, and millions of people who simply refuse to avail themselves of them. And it’s piling onto the already-existing assaults on physician mental well-being – now increasingly framed as physician “moral injury.”

Payer Flexibilities Continue With COVID Emergency Extension - 10/26/2021

The U.S. Department of Health and Services’ extension of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) until Jan. 16, 2022, means many of the waivers that public and private payers instituted remain in place.

TMA Defeats Bills to Ban Vaccine Mandates - 10/25/2021

Thanks to physician-led grassroots advocacy, the Texas Medical Association beat back bills that aimed to codify Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent executive order banning vaccine mandates. Those bills had failed to advance out of their respective chambers when the Texas Legislature adjourned from its third special session of the year on Oct. 19.

TMA Wins Several COVID Relief Funding Asks - 10/22/2021

The Texas Legislature’s distribution of billions in federal COVID-19 relief funding displayed a commitment to many – though not all – of the Texas Medical Association’s desired uses for the money, including investments in child mental health care and improving maternal mental health access.

TMA White Paper: Does COVID-19 Vaccine Passport Ban Affect Your Practice? - 10/21/2021

If you run a business, any business – including a medical practice – you may be subject to Texas’ new law barring businesses from requiring customers to produce COVID-19 vaccine documentation – now known in common parlance as a “vaccine passport.”

Preorder Pediatric Pfizer COVID-19 Shots by Today - 10/20/2021

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is requesting that pediatric practitioners preorder the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by 5 pm CT today, in light of the Food and Drug Administration’s pending emergency use authorization of that vaccine for ages 5 to 11.

Offering Access to Patients With Limited English Proficiency - 10/19/2021

Under the Affordable Care Act and accompanying federal rules, certain medical practices must take “reasonable steps” to provide meaningful access to people with limited English proficiency (LEP). A new Texas Medical Association white paper provides members with information on their LEP obligations under the law and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rulemaking, including the most recent rules published in 2020.

Survey: Health Officials Plan for Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution - 10/18/2021

As approval for a pediatric version of the COVID-19 vaccine gets underway, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is planning ahead for its distribution and needs your feedback by 5 pm CT this Wednesday, Oct. 20.

TMA Weighs In on Bills to Ban Vaccine Mandates - 10/18/2021

Taking science-based interventions like vaccinations off the table during an ongoing public emergency is like telling coastal residents they can’t board up their windows or fill sandbags as a hurricane approaches.

You Can Help Prevent Family Violence During COVID-19 - 10/13/2021

How has family violence changed during COVID-19 and how can medicine respond? Four members of the Texas Medical Association Subcommittee on Behavioral Health address those questions and more in a new TMA Practice Well podcast – Family Violence During COVID-19.

Practice Financials - 10/12/2021

Get the information you need to keep your practice financials in order.

Texas FQHCs Receive Almost $50 Million for Modernization - 10/12/2021

The federal government will distribute nearly $50 million among 66 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in Texas as part of a nationwide infusion of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to modernize those centers and support underserved communities.

Know Your ADA Obligations - 10/11/2021

If someone asked you about your training on federal requirements for accommodating patients with disabilities, would your answer sound something like this? “Oh golly. I have no idea. I’m sure I had to read or study something sometime. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been a doctor for quite a while, so I suspect I had to learn it somewhere, but I don’t remember where.” That’s an actual answer from one internal medicine physician in a recent study of doctors’ knowledge of their legal obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). And if the results of that small study are any indication, many physicians might be lacking in their knowledge on the subject.