Magazine Story

LGBTQ Health: New TMA Section Helps Physicians Treat a Misunderstood Population - 06/11/2021

TMA’s newest section on LGBTQ Health helps Texas physicians treat a widely misunderstood population.

GME Momentum: Preserving Texas' Steady Progress in Building Residency Positions - 06/11/2021

TMA fights state budget cuts to preserve Texas’ steady progress in building residency positions.

Livelihood on the Line: Surgeon Sues Hospital over Alleged Disparagement, Malicious Peer Review - 06/10/2021

San Antonio cardiothoracic surgeon sues hospital over alleged disparagement, malicious peer. In less than two years, San Antonio cardiothoracic surgeon J. Marvin Smith III, MD, says his distinguished surgical career spanning about five decades was effectively wiped out.

Texas Medicine: Letters to the Editor - 06/03/2021

Letters to the Editor

Deal or No Deal: Negotiating Contracts - 06/02/2021

Maximize your leverage when negotiating a health plan contract.

This Changes Everything: Practices Adapt to COVID-19 - 06/01/2021

COVID 19’s appearance in March 2020 triggered rapid changes for physician offices throughout Texas. For Sugar Land family physician Troy Fiesinger, MD, the full impact of those changes became clear almost a year later in February 2021 when unusually low

Texas Medicine Magazine - 06/01/2021

Texas Medicine Magazine

Ready To Boost Your Leadership Skills? Join TMA's Leadership College - 05/31/2021

Do you want to become more of a leader in organized medicine, your practice, or your community, but worry you don’t have the skills necessary to inspire a team? Apply now for the Texas Medical Association Leadership College, which since 2011 has helped more than 250 physicians develop a deeper understanding of their potential and strengths.

Talk to Patients About: Vaccines and Residual Materials - 05/31/2021

Vaccines are scientifically proven to be safe and effective, so anti-vaccination efforts tend to steer the public away from science and data and toward unfamiliar aspects of vaccines that may sound scary. One frequent distraction involves residual materials – small amounts of the ingredients used to make the vaccine.

Texas Medicine Back Issues - 05/31/2021

Back Issues

Systematic Learning: Health Systems Science Shapes Med Ed - 05/31/2021

For decades, Texas medical schools – like those across the U.S. – taught students with a laser-like focus on two aspects of medicine: basic science and clinical science. But in recent years, schools have expanded medical students’ horizons to take in a bigger picture.

MIPSperceptions: Study Confirms Doctors’ View of Medicare Program as Burdensome - 05/31/2021

Physicians’ perceptions of Medicare’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) have run along these and other unflattering lines since MIPS first launched in 2017. But a Physicians Foundation-funded study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine sought to better quantify how physician practice leaders perceive MIPS, one of the two participation tracks in Medicare’s Quality Payment Program. (The Texas Medical Association has representation on the Physicians Foundation’s board of directors.)

PEAQ Performance: Blues Program Shows Little Progress in Addressing Physicians’ Concerns - 05/31/2021

Blues performance recognition program shows little progress in addressing physicians’ concerns over such quality programs

Fulfilling a Dream - 05/26/2021

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine has largely dispensed with lectures and focuses more on group learning and practical experience. This and other innovations dovetail with the school's focus on public health, which is vital in a region notorious for high poverty and chronic health problems.

Furthering Medical Education in Texas - 05/26/2021

Medical education in Texas is moving in the right direction. The Texas Medical Association has been a major partner in advancing medical education initiatives. This special symposium issue on medical education examines residency training costs, the Next Accreditation System, graduate medical education in rural Texas, Texas' physician workforce needs, the current state of education reform, and efforts to retain medical graduates in Texas.

Weighing the Cost of Obesity: One Solution Does Not Fit All For This Complicated Disease - 05/25/2021

Obesity causes or contributes to a range of fatal and debilitating health conditions. On top of this, obesity has emerged as one of the largest contributing factors in severe illness and death among those who contract COVID-19, according to several studies.

Talk to Patients About: Vaccines and Additives - 05/25/2021

Many additives sound toxic, like aluminum and formaldehyde. Others sound strange, like squalene, which is made mostly from shark liver oil. But vaccine additives pose little threat of harm.

About Texas Medicine - 05/25/2021

General information about Texas Medicine.

Longer Coverage, Longer Lives: COVID-19 Relief Bill Could Help With Medicaid Postpartum Coverage - 05/24/2021

TMA urges Texas to keep pregnant women on Medicaid 12 months postpartum following federal enticement in COVID-19 relief bill.

From the Valley to the Top: Incoming President E. Linda Villarreal, MD - 05/07/2021

When incoming TMA President E. Linda Villarreal, MD, tells you, “My passion is medicine,” purer truth is hard to imagine. The Edinburg internist has pursued medicine – and the betterment of the profession – through every conceivable end and repeated personal trials.

In Defense of Public Health: Peter Hotez, MD, on the Comeback of Preventable Diseases - 05/05/2021

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.

I Think I'll Wait: Talking Through Vaccine Hesitancy - 05/02/2021

How to validate patients’ concerns and promote COVID-19 vaccination.

A Healthy Knowledge: Improving Patients' Health Literacy - 05/01/2021

The more literate patients are about health matters, the easier it is for physicians to treat them.

The ABCs of Health: Physician Leadership on School Health Advisory Councils (SHACs) - 05/01/2021

Physician leadership on school health advisory councils, or SHACs, can improve local policies.

Fite Finds Points of Pride in COVID-Plagued Presidency - 05/01/2021

Outgoing TMA President Diana L. Fite, MD's COVID-Plagued Presidency