Physician Loan Repayment Program: A Critical Recruitment Tool
Improve funding of Texas’ loan repayment program and annual loan repayment amounts to allow more physicians to benefit from the program and to provide an effective recruitment tool for medically underserved communities.
Texas Medical Board
Senate Bill 104 enhanced TMB’s enforcement capabilities and imposed a surcharge on physicians’ licenses to pay for staffing and infrastructure improvements.
Coverage for Costs of Routine Medical Care for Patients in Clinical Trials
Patients participating in a clinic trial should have the ability to use their health insurance premium dollars to pay for routine medical costs — especially when they are suffering from a life-threatening disease or condition.
Delegated Authority, Advance Practice Nurses, and Patient Safety
Ensure Texas Medical Board has proper oversight of physicians’ delegation of prescriptive authority and other responsibilities to allied health practitioners.
Smoke-Free Texas
Just like asbestos in schools, lead in paint and gasoline, and salmonella in food — secondhand smoke is purely a public health issue.
Obesity
The obesity epidemic threatens Texas' physical and fiscal health. Nearly 63 percent of Texas adults and 35 percent of Texas school-age children are overweight or obese.
Nonphysician Control of Medicine
Physicians should work for the patient not the insurance company, hospital, or anyone else who is not directly responsible for the care of the patient.
Ownership of Health Care Facilities and Equipment
Physicians have an obligation to advance improvements in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients, including innovations in medical technology.
Medical Liability Reform
Protect the 2003 health care liability reforms, including caps on noneconomic damages and protecting emergency services.
Immunization
Support increased physician reimbursements for vaccines in both the public and private sector and/or the deduction of vaccines from the business tax.
Health Information Technology
TMA is in support of HIT, however, it carries a hefty price tag at a time when physician reimbursement from both government and private payers is declining and medical practice costs are rising.
Mental Health Funding
Texas ranks 49th in the nation for the amount it spends per person for mental health care. Inadequate state funding puts the burden on local resources, and leads to increased rates of incarceration and higher use of public hospital emergency rooms, homeless shelters, and the foster care system.
Graduate Medical Education
An investment in GME is an investment in the health of Texans and our economy.
Preferred Provider Organization Regulation
Patients may incur unexpected medical costs when PPO networks do not live up to their promise to provide an adequate physician network and pay the physician the appropriate contracted rate.
Health Insurance Product Label
Employers and patients need accurate, current, and honest information on copays, deductibles, and health plan networks to make decisions in today’s health care market.
Cancer Prevention and Detection
Funding invested in cancer prevention, detection, and screening in Texas is crucial to ensuring patients receive the best care possible.
Workers' Compensation
The share of physicians who will accept new patients with work-related injuries declined from 46-percent in 2002 to 23 percent in 2004.
Free-Standing Emergency Departments
Free-standing emergency departments (FSEDs) are on the rise. Unlike urgent care clinics, these facilities are designed to replicate the full array of services and procedures offered by traditional hospital emergency departments.
Cord Blood Banks
Umbilical cord blood contains stem cells that may help treat serious and devastating diseases in children and adults. In the past, cord blood was thrown away after an infant was delivered. Today, parents can choose to save or donate cord blood to public and commercial cord blood banks for future use. There is no cost to donate cord blood to a public cord blood bank.
Electronic Prescription Monitoring
TMA supports an efficient and effective electronic prescription monitoring system for all controlled substances. The system should be automated to minimize compliance issues for both pharmacists and physicians.
Retail Health Clinics
Retail clinics must share health records in a timely fashion with patients’ primary physicians and direct patients to their physician for follow-up care.
Scope of Practice
The scope of practice of health care professionals is limited by their education, training, and skills.
Taxes/Public School Finance
Taxing patient care is neither good public policy nor is it in the best interests of Texas.
Children’s Health Insurance Program
Medicaid and CHIP are good buys for Texas, given their generous federal matching dollars. Both programs offer low-income working parents an affordable mechanism for insuring their children.
The Uninsured
For Texas to compete economically at home and abroad, we must invest in a healthy population and workforce, which includes ensuring that all Texans can obtain affordable, timely health care.
Medicaid Funding
Medicaid payments still lag far behind other payment rates even after the recent increases. The costs of physicians’ practices, like other small businesses, increase each year. Physicians want to participate in Medicaid, but they simply cannot sustain the loss.
Physician Economic Profiling
Physician inclusion in a tiered network based on cost consideration alone can create access, quality, and patient choice problems.
Health Plan Accountability for Out-of-Network Services
Health plans should be responsible for medical expenses patients incur outside the network since the patient’s out-of-pocket cost is a direct result of the inadequate network.
Chronic Disease Prevention
A workplace wellness plan can become a long-term benefit for employees’ health, productivity, and health care cost containment.