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CMS Finalizes 2025 Medicare Advantage Payment Rates - 04/16/2024

Despite a 0.16% reduction in base pay rate, Medicare Advantage plans are projected to see a 3.7% growth in revenue in 2025 thanks to a rising average patient risk score.


CMS to Debut Primary Care Payment Model - 04/10/2024

In an effort to address financial barriers to accountable care organizations’ provision of primary care services, Medicare will test a new value-based payment model for approximately 130 starting in 2025 and running through 2029.


Medicare Advantage – and Disadvantage: Program Enrollment Grows Amid Physician Concerns - 04/03/2024

Despite its growing popularity among Medicare patients, Medicare Advantage is divisive among physicians.


Middle Ground: Medicare Offers Options Amid Shift to Value-Based Care - 03/05/2024

Physicians are divided on the issue of value-based care, but, with Medicare forging ahead, the Texas Medical Association is focused on monitoring the development of alternative payment models, educating members about their options, and advocating for physician protections.


Deadline: TMA Scholarship Fosters Diversity in Medicine - 02/27/2024

As Match Day nears, so does the deadline to apply for a Texas Medical Association scholarship helping to ensure the physician workforce more closely mirrors the population it serves.


Survey: APM Participation Grows, But Fee-For-Service Still Dominates - 01/24/2024

Physicians increasingly report participating in an accountable care organization or other alternative payment model, but fee-for-service payments still make up the bulk of practice revenue, continuing a yearslong trend.


A Helping Hand for Future Physicians: The Diversity in Medicine Scholarship - 12/19/2023

Medical school can be an expensive undertaking. The Diversity in Medicine Scholarship aims to make pursuing this noble profession more accessible.


Corpus Hospital Revives Emergency Medicine Residency Program - 12/15/2023

Following a grassroots advocacy effort by local physicians, CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi recently reversed its plan to close the CHRISTUS Health-Texas A&M Spohn Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency program in 2026. The program will continue at least through 2029 thanks to funding from the Nueces County Hospital District.


Report Aims to Catalyze Texas Medicaid’s Shift to Value-Based Care - 11/02/2023

A new report aims to accelerate Texas Medicaid’s transition from a fee-for-service payment model to a value-based one, a shift that has been underway for 25 years.


Corpus Hospital Closes ER Residency - 10/24/2023

Christus Spohn Hospital recently announced its plan to close its emergency medicine residency program in June 2026. This came as a shock to the medical community. The statement from Christus cited consideration of the availability of resources as the reason for the unexpected closure. Read the op-ed.


Unlocking Doors: Diversity in Medicine Scholarship Program Connects Students with Mentors - 10/21/2023

When the Texas Medical Association founded its Diversity in Medicine Scholarship Program in 1998 to diversify the physician workforce, Dr. Ramamurthy became both a contributor and a mentor to students who receive the scholarships. “When you’re mentoring students, one of the things that you want them to understand is that you’re somebody they can talk to who is not only there as a teacher, but as a friend,” she said. Other top donors to the Diversity in Medicine Scholarship serve voluntarily as mentors to student awardees. TMA encourages those arrangements because they can benefit both parties.


Inspiring Choices: Mentorship Can Boost African-American Representation in Medicine - 10/20/2023

African Americans are underrepresented in medicine. Mentorship can help them choose medical careers.


Fulfilling a Dream - 10/20/2023

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.


Rotations, Residency Applications, Testing Fees? TMA Low-Interest Loans Can Help - 10/03/2023

As a medical student, Zachary Hamilton, MD, had no idea how he was going to pay for his fourth-year residency applications and travel expenses to interviews. Then he heard about and applied for a TMA low-interest educational loan.


Furthering Medical Education in Texas - 07/17/2023

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.


Driving the Quality Train: TMA Physicians Lead the Way, From Measures to Standardization - 07/10/2023

In a proactive effort to resolve physician complaints, TMA and its members are deeply involved in quality issues, from participating in the development of new measures to pushing payers for standardized quality programs and supporting physicians who are curious about value-based care.


A Shelter From the Practice Viability Storm: TMA Braces Physicians Amid Economic Headwinds - 05/31/2023

TMA is here to help all practices – regardless of setting or payment model – thrive, remaining steady in its advocacy at the state and federal levels to protect physician autonomy and to defend against the corporate practice of medicine.


House of Delegates Tackles Health Care Workforce Shortages - 05/25/2023

As Texas continues to face health care workforce shortages, particularly in rural areas, the Texas Medical Association House of Delegates responded to those concerns with new policies aimed at bolstering the ranks of medical students, residents, physicians, and bedside nurses at its annual TexMed conference last week.


More Than a Match: UTRGV Medical Students Overcome Pandemic Pressures to Earn Residency Spots - 04/30/2023

Forty-five students in the fourth graduating class of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, along with their family members, friends, and UTRGV officials, gathered at the school’s performing arts center in Edinburg for Match Day. That's the day in March when medical students across the U.S. discover where they will train as resident physicians.


Learning Through a Value Lens: Texas Medical Students Learn Value-Based Care Tenets - 04/30/2023

The national Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship (STARS) program seeks to catalyze physicians' uptake of value-based care, starting with medical students, whom it anticipates will have long, impactful careers.


Advanced APM Incentive Payments Extended Through 2023 Performance Year - 03/02/2023

Physicians who participate in an advanced alternative payment model this year will remain eligible for incentive payments – albeit smaller ones – that were initially slated to expire in 2022.


Medicare Bundled-Payment Model Could Expand Access to Value-Based Specialty Care - 01/26/2023

Medicare’s recent extension of a bundled payment model marks a rare opportunity for more specialists to participate in value-based care and could pave the way for better coordination with primary care.


New TMA Task Force on Alternative Payment Models Charts a Path Toward Value-Based Care - 01/26/2023

The shift from fee-for-service to value-based care is underway, with public and private payers introducing myriad new payment models in recent years. But many physicians find the variety of plans overwhelming, and the investments necessary to support them challenging.


Holding Their Own: Texas ACOs Contribute to Billions in Savings in Medicare Program - 11/01/2022

For the fifth straight year, the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), through its work with accountable care organizations (ACOs), generated significant savings and high-quality results, with Texas entities once again contributing to that success.


Ready for Business: MBA programs broaden physicians' skills - 10/03/2022

A growing number of Texas physicians obtain MBA degrees to sharpen their business acumen, understand finance, and prepare for leadership roles.