Related Stories

2025 Legislative Wrap-Up: Scope Creep Defense Preserves Physician-Led Care, Patient Safety - 08/29/2025

TMA's unprecedented presence at the Capitol this session made a statement to lawmakers that patients deserve the best care possible and resulted in the stoppage of dozens of scope-of-practice bills filed yet again.

2025 Legislative Wrap-Up: Texas Physician Workforce Gets Budget Boost - 08/27/2025

Proven avenues to expand Texas’ physician workforce – via funding secured for undergraduate and graduate medical education (GME), loan repayment, and rural training programs, as well as supporting TMB’s efforts to process licenses for physicians moving to Texas from other

Medicine Whelms Nurse Scope Expansion Bill - 08/27/2025

Physicians from across the state made the trek to the Capitol to testify that House Bill 3974 would dismantle Texas’ longstanding physician-led care model and with it, patient safety. TMA and the legislature remain committed to quality solutions to the state’s access-to-care challenges.

Pharmacists’ Scope Would Expand Under Federal Bills - 08/21/2025

Under a pair of House and Senate bills, Medicare would allow pharmacists to test for and then treat four respiratory illnesses. Nearly 100 state medical associations and national specialty societies joined in opposing the potential legislation.

New Law Allows Physicians to Help Patients Receive Their Medical News – Good or Bad - 08/19/2025

A new law effective Sept. 1 will protect Texas patients from the confusion of receiving difficult-to-decipher health information in their inbox with no explanation, thanks to the efforts of Texas physicians.

Pinch Points: Health Care Isn’t Immune to a Tight Labor Market - 08/18/2025

Health care isn’t immune to a tight labor market, but employee retention efforts can help.

Lege Poised to Boost GME Funding; TMA Urges Rural Workforce Investment - 08/05/2025

With a record-high budget at its disposal, the Texas Legislature seems poised to increase funding for graduate medical education in the 2024-25 biennium, fulfilling one of the Texas Medical Association’s legislative priorities. But physicians say more must be done to address the state’s physician workforce shortage, especially in primary care and in rural and underserved areas.

Chiropractic Scope Expansion Proposed Under Federal Legislation - 05/21/2025

Federal legislation proposes changing the definition of “physician” to include chiropractors. The American Medical Association, TMA, and dozens of other medical organizations call on Congress to nix it, spotlighting patient safety risk and possible increased Medicare costs.

New TMA Policies Strive to Bolster Physician Workforce - 05/21/2025

Attempting to fix Texas’ maternal care deserts and other physician workforce deficits, the House of Delegates voted in support of expanded physician training opportunities and statewide initiatives, particularly focused on rural areas.

‘If That’s Not Expanding Scope, I Don’t Know What Is’: Bill Grants Scope Shortcut to Rural APRNs - 05/06/2025

With patient safety on the line, TMA physicians showed up in droves in opposition to Senate Bill 3055, which would give certain nurse practitioners independent practice in rural areas. Instead, physicians turned lawmakers’ attention to a new and immediate solution to Texas’ rural access shortages advancing through the legislature: Senate Bill 2695.

Rural-Access Solution Goes Before Senate Committee - 04/28/2025

The culmination of many months and meetings, TMA-backed Senate Bill 2695 was unveiled to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, opening a new pipeline for rural access to care while preserving Texas’ physician-led care model.

Record Licensure Numbers Show Steady Workforce Progress - 04/23/2025

Texas continues to expand the physician workforce at a faster rate than the state’s population, continuing a 15-year streak, but gaps remain. To drive in-state growth, TMA continues to advocate for bolstering the state’s residency and fellowship programs.

TMA Mobilizes Against Nurse Scope Expansion Bill - 04/11/2025

House Bill 3794 is among dozens of bills filed this session that chip away at Texas’ scope of practice laws. While for the most part TMA has stopped such bills in their tracks, by contrast, HB 3794 would open what TMA President G. Ray Callas, MD, strongly warned is a “floodgate” for independent practice by advanced practice registered nurses. TMA urges physicians to act to stop the bill.

Check Eligibility for Medicare Bonus Following Annual HPSA Update - 01/28/2025

Physicians, including psychiatrists, can receive a 10% quarterly bonus from CMS for providing primary care or mental health services to Medicare patients in qualifying areas, with some important distinctions on services rendered.

TMA’s Top Legislative Priorities: Guarding Against Scope of Practice Expansion - 01/06/2025

TMA is working to grow the physician workforce and preserve physician-led health care in Texas.

AMA Board Chair Calls on Texas to Help Secure Medicare Fix, Restore Physician Autonomy - 12/04/2024

Attendees of Texas Medical Association’s second Business of Medicine Conference heard a host of economic hurdles to physicians, but underscoring them all is the decades-long trend of decreasing Medicare physician payment, according to the American Medical Association’s Board of Trustees Chair Michael Suk, MD.

AMA President-Elect Acclaims TMA Advocacy for Scope, Prior Auth Wins - 12/04/2024

Texas physicians’ advocacy accomplishments both in the state and alongside the American Medical Association earned praise from AMA’s president-elect at the Texas Medical Association’s Leadership Summit on Jan. 27.

Senate Committee Tackles Scope of Practice in Access-to-Care Hearing - 11/18/2024

In a hearing packed with representatives from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, behavioral health, licensing boards, and academia, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee tackled Texas’ health care workforce shortages with the Texas Medical Association delivering its message loud and clear: Expanding scope of practice is not the answer to helping patients in rural and underserved areas.

Border Health Conference Highlights Need for Funding, Residency Programs - 10/17/2024

Physicians, lawmakers, city leaders, and others came together at the Texas Medical Association’s Border Health Conference in Laredo to find solutions to the most pressing issues affecting physicians and patients on the Texas-Mexico border.

Enjoying Employment: Texas Physicians Trend Away from Independent Practice - 08/14/2024

As the share of Texas physicians trend away from independent practice, TMA members spell out the benefits of employment.

The Waco Way: How This Addiction Medicine Specialist Targets Primary Care Challenges - 05/29/2024

How one addiction medicine specialist turned passion into practicality to target behavioral health challenges in primary care.

New TMA Policies Aim to Strengthen Physician Workforce Pipeline - 05/14/2024

Among others, top new policies direct TMA to study ways to assist unmatched medical graduates and to advocate for increased per-resident funding to offset medical schools’ teaching costs – a rate that has not budged since 2008. Read more.

Innovation for Every Age: Texas Primary Care Physicians Improve Access for Older Patients - 05/06/2024

Texas' population is aging, highlighting the importance of access to high-quality, coordinated primary care that bridges complex systems, various clinicians, and concurrent chronic conditions.

Coming Up Short: TMA Workforce Report Underscores Access Challenges, Advocacy Wins - 05/06/2024

While the study highlights positive growth facilitated by TMA’s ongoing advocacy, it shows shortages that mirror those across the health care professional workforce and that are particularly entrenched in rural areas; it also reveals challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and by other factors, economic or otherwise, that have complicated Texas' practice environment and impacted recruitment.

Hospitals, Especially Rural Ones, Face Increased Risk of Closure as Pandemic Funds Dwindle - 01/29/2024

Now approaching the fourth year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas hospitals are still reeling from its impact, facing elevated expenses, depressed patient volume, and tighter margins compared with prepandemic numbers. Rural hospitals, in particular, are at a significantly higher risk of closing.