Related Stories

TMA Opposes Attempts to Expand Audiologists’ Scope - 07/17/2023

Proposed federal laws that would give audiologists unlimited access to Medicare patients without a physician referral could lead to lasting, and expensive, harm to patients, medicine once again told U.S. Senate and House leadership this week.


Proposal Would Maintain Unauthorized Scope for Chiropractors - 07/17/2023

The Texas Medical Association strongly opposes proposed new state rules that would continue to allow chiropractors to practice acupuncture and to perform other procedures and services outside the scope of practice for chiropractic.


Removing Texas Physicians From the Health Care Team Would be Harmful, Costly - 05/04/2023

Op-ed by Texas Medical Association (TMA) President Gary W. Floyd, MD, and Board of Trustees Chair G. Ray Callas, MD, about legislation proposing to give advanced practice registered nurses and other providers independent practice authority without physician supervision.


Help TMA Fight Independent Practice For APRNs - 05/02/2023

Please contact your state lawmakers today through the new TMA Grassroots Action Center. Let them know you support physician-led, team-based care. Tell them how much you learned in your years of medical school, residency, and beyond. Tell them why APRNs are NOT the answer to Texas’ physician shortage. Ask them to say “No” to the APRNs and to help the Texas Medical Association stop them.


Medicine Blasts Scope Attacks at the Texas Legislature - 04/24/2023

Nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) are redoubling their efforts on behalf of scope-of-practice expansion this session, including a pair of bills that seek full independent practice authority for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs). But the Texas Medical Association is pushing back with equal force, armed with a growing body of research that shows removing physician oversight of the health care team undermines patient safety and health care cost containment.


TMA Decries Scope Bills That Would Allow Nurses to Practice Independently - 04/24/2023

Just three days before the bill-filing deadline, state lawmakers filed a pair of bills that would allow advanced practice registered nurses to practice independently.


Scoping Out the Best Care: TMA Defends Team-Based Care Model - 04/03/2023

As expected, scores of scope expansion attempts have again crept their way into the hundreds of bills TMA is tracking; it's an issue that affects all physicians and patients, regardless of specialty or geography.


TMA’s “Battle This Session” Begins: Fighting Scope Creep - 03/16/2023

As expected, several scope-of-practice expansion attempts have crept their way into the more than 800 bills the Texas Medical Association is already tracking so far this legislative session, underscoring why fighting scope creep is medicine’s top priority.


Legislative Priority #1: Scope of Practice Encroachments, Graduate Medical Education Funding - 01/06/2023

Goal Protect independent medical diagnosing, treatment, and prescribing as the practice of medicine address workforce shortages in a way that ensures all patients have access to the same standard of care and keeps pace with Texas’ outsized population


TMA Joins Fight Against Scope Creep in “Sweeping” Federal Legislation - 11/21/2022

Organized medicine is banding together to oppose a piece of federal legislation that advocates say would expand the scope of practice for nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) like nurse practitioners and physician assistants at the expense of Medicare and Medicaid patients.


Use Medication Reconciliation to Prevent Errors - 10/07/2022

Medication reconciliation helps avoid medication errors such as omissions, duplications, dosing errors, or drug interactions.


Texas Administrative Code: Medical Disclosure Forms - 10/07/2022

Texas Administrative Code: Medical Disclosure Forms


Informed Consent - 10/07/2022

Informed Consent


How to Respond to a Subpoena - 10/07/2022

How to Respond to a Subpoena


Do Appointments Establish a Patient-Physician Relationship? - 10/07/2022

When a new patient makes an appointment with my office, does that establish a patient-physician relationship between the patient and me?


Who Can Consent to Immunization of Minors? - 09/28/2022

Who in Texas can consent to immunization of minors?


Copy Fees for Mental Health Records - 09/28/2022

Do Texas Medical Board rules regarding fees for copying medical records apply to mental health records? TMA’s newly updated, free white paper answers this question about fees and more.


Surgeon’s Multimillion-Dollar Defamation Award Tossed by Texas Supreme Court - 05/16/2022

The Texas Supreme Court has nullified a $6.4 million jury verdict for a Houston cardiothoracic surgeon in his lawsuit alleging defamation and business disparagement by Memorial Hermann Hospital System.    


Study: Nonphysician Practitioners “Should Not Function Independently” - 04/21/2022

The recent experience of a Mississippi clinic adds another piece of evidence to support one of TMA’s enduring philosophies: Health care teams should be physician-led. The clinic analyzed how both physicians and nonphysician practitioners performed in a primary care role.  


TMA Opposes Proposed Title Change for Physician Assistants - 03/08/2022

The American Academy of PAs (AAPA) passed new policy last week changing the profession’s official title to “physician associate” rather than the traditional “physician assistant” (PA).


These Workplace Posters Should Be on Your Walls - 10/28/2021

Along with any decorative prints or motivational signs that might adorn the walls in the employees-only areas of your practice, posters about up to a dozen lawsmust be on display.


The Finer Points of Professional Courtesy - 08/20/2021

The Finer Points of Professional Courtesy


Commentary: Hey Texas, Time to Stop Using the Word Provider! - 08/02/2021

The growing unwillingness to highlight the differences in training, education, and expertise between physicians and other health care professionals constitutes an increasing danger to not only our profession but also to patients, our health care system, and society as a whole. Patients deserve to know who is rendering their care. It is our hope that every physician reading this article will think and act in some way to speak up against the “provider” label and help reclaim the rightful title. Our profession is thousands of years old, so let’s not be the generation that destroys its own name. For the sake of those who follow in our footsteps, let’s take a stand together today.


Survey: Physicians’ Office Favored Over Retail Clinics, Urgent Care Centers - 06/23/2021

Retail clinics and urgent care centers may be as ubiquitous as Whataburger or Subway these days, but physicians’ offices “remain the public’s favored site of care,” according to a recent survey by Morning Consult.


Bad Scope Bills Defeated - 06/11/2021

Among other ill-advised proposals put forth during this year’s session, the House of Medicine stopped every troublesome attempt by nonmedical professionals to creep into the practice of medicine during this session.