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Texas Medicine Magazine - 07/01/2025

Texas Medicine Magazine

Tech Support: Physicians Willing to Adopt New Technologies Can Get Assistance from AI, EHRs – and TMA - 06/30/2025

The Texas Medical Association offers resources to help physicians gain greater mastery of potentially helpful technologies, including AI, EHRs, and telemedicine.

Digital-Age Doctors: What the 21st Century Cures Act Has Done to Change Physician Practice - 06/30/2025

Texas physicians have become more cognizant of electronic health records and innovations in augmented intelligence since the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act.

Digital Dilemma: Health Information Technology Remains a Valuable Tool for Physicians - 06/30/2025

Health information technology remains a valuable tool for Texas physicians – but some detriments to patient care, physician wellness persist.

Texas Medicine Back Issues - 06/30/2025

Back Issues

Contaminant Containment: Countering Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Takes Physician Awareness and Prompt Reporting - 06/26/2025

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates each year some 48 million people get sick from a foodborne illness, more than 127,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die.

A Form of Balance: Dedication to Dance Enables Arathi Shah, MD, to Have Elusive Equilibrium - 06/23/2025

As Arathi Shah, MD, was finishing medical school in western India, a second crucible in the guise of a graduation ceremony awaited her. It also entailed yearslong preparation, rigorous training, and time with friends cut short.  

'The Canary in the Coal Mine': Wastewater Testing Advances Improve Physician and Public Readiness for Outbreaks - 06/23/2025

Houston is home to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Wastewater Surveillance System of Excellence.

The Essence of Outreach: TMA Health Beat Broadens Its Audience to Advocate More Effectively for Physicians - 06/23/2025

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.

Now is the Time: Texas Delegates to AMA Make a Strong Push for Fixing What Ails Medicare - 06/23/2025

Texas Medical Association members made their voices heard at the American Medical Association’s three-day National Advocacy Conference (NAC), Feb. 10-12, 2025, calling for a long-term Medicare payment fix.

Service Provider: TMA Practice Resources Educate Physicians on Practice Challenges - 06/23/2025

TMA’s robust practice resources help educate physicians on common billing issues, payer updates, and practice challenges.

Read and Review: TMA Offers Insight into Common Physician Contracts - 06/23/2025

TMA offers tips, insight into common types of contracts physicians encounter across their careers.

Multiple Choice: How Two APMs Are Contributing to Cost-Conscious Health Care - 06/17/2025

The Medicare Shared Savings Program and ACO REACH program provide physicians with two viable payment models incentivizing better patient care outcomes.

Delivering Collaboration: Can Birthing Centers Help Ease Texas’ Maternal Deserts? - 05/05/2025

G. Sealy Massingill, MD, knows well the wildly unpredictable nature of birth. The consultant on TMA’s Committee on Reproductive, Women’s, and Perinatal Health has attended the deliveries of thousands of infants and wouldn’t dare to presume that any apparently healthy patient labors unencumbered by risk.

TMA’s Top Legislative Priorities: Enhance Medicaid Payments and Coverage - 04/17/2025

TMA will work to enhance Medicaid payments and coverage this legislative session

UPDATED: Closer to Home: TMA Reimagines its Event Strategy - 04/01/2025

TMA reimagines its event strategy to meet members where they are.

I Never Knew TMA: Had AI Experts on its HIT Committee - 03/31/2025

TMA’s HIT Committee stands among nine councils and 18 standing committees that channel physician expertise to influence policy and programs that support Texas patients and physicians and provide solutions to the challenges they encounter.

Touting Texas: David N. Henkes, MD, Championed the State’s Physicians in His 25 Years on the Delegation to the AMA - 03/10/2025

David N. Henkes, MD, recalls his first American Medical Association meeting in San Francisco as a new member of the Texas Delegation to the AMA. The November 2001 conference was, in a word, “overwhelming.”

Advancing Primary Care: Medicare Rolls Out New Payment Codes for Treating Chronic Conditions - 03/04/2025

Though the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced another acronym into the Medicare mix, some physicians express optimism this particular one could help practices stay viable.   For Greg Fuller,

Straight Shooter: Incoming TMA President Ray Callas, MD, Aims for Practice Protections, Membership Gains - 02/27/2025

Incoming Texas Medical Association President Ray Callas, MD, an anesthesiologist from Beaumont, cites as his top priorities preventing scope-of-practice creep, defending physician autonomy, and bolstering the TMA's membership.

Going Viral: Dr. Glaucomflecken’s Medical Comedy Spreads Physician Advocacy - 02/27/2025

Dr. Glaucomflecken’s medical comedy videos spread physician expertise and advocacy.

TMAA President-Elect Joi Smith Calls Medicine’s Volunteer Force to Action with a Dose of Positivity - 02/27/2025

TMA Alliance President-Elect Joi Smith calls medicine’s volunteer force to action with a dose of positivity.

Fire in His Belly: Outgoing TMA President G. Ray Callas, MD, Traverses Texas to Advocate for Medicine - 02/27/2025

When G. Ray Callas, MD, was first elected president of the Texas Medical Association, he was moved by the trust his fellow physicians put in him to speak on their behalf and advocate for them.

Talk to Patients About: Measles - 02/24/2025

Few Americans today remember when measles was deadly. But before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, the disease killed about 2.6 million globally each year. By 2016, vaccination programs cut that number to about 89,000.

Advancing Health Equity: Karen Batory’s 35-year TMA Career Shaped Public Health for the Association - 01/20/2025

Karen Batory’s extensive, 35-year career at TMA shaped public health for both the association and the state