For: Jan. 11, 2013
From: Sam Tessen, Executive Director
Email:
Website: www.txosteo.org
A mathematical formula for happiness: Reality divided by Expectations. There were two ways to be happy: improve your reality or lower your expectations. ― Jodi Picoult
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. – Milton Berle
IN THIS ISSUE, FOR YOU
ON THE SCHEDULE AND DISTRICT MEETINGS
83rd TEXAS LEGISLATURE IS IN SESSION
TOMA LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
83rd LEGISLATURE FACES A NEW SET OF PRIORITIES
RATE CUT FOR VALLEY PHYSICIANS PARTIALLY RESTORED (DUAL ELIGIBLE ISSUE)
CONGRESS STOPS MEDICARE PAYMENT CUT
OCC OFFICIALY BEGINS JAN. 1
MALPRACTICE RISKS WITH MORE NPs and PAs IN THE OFFICE
LAUGH UNTIL YOUR CHEEKS HURT.
PRACTICE RESOURCES JUST FOR TOMA MEMBERS
TOMA Members Health Insurance Program from Small Business United Page 10
The ITeam Page 11
FOR YOU TO CONSIDER AND PARTICIPATE:
NEW MESSAGE TO SEND TO GOV. PERRY and NEW MESSAGE TO SEND TO LT. GOVERNOR DEWHURST ARE NOW ON TOMA’S LEGISLATIVE ACTION CENTER
STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR LEGISLATOR(S).
http://capwiz.com/txosteo/home/
Use the link to go the Legislative Action Center for TOMA. Choose the letter that starts with “Gov Perry…” or “Lt. Gov. Dewhurst….”
Then, toward the bottom of the page, put in your voting address or zip. Click on “Go” or go back to the top and click on the line in the “Take Action” box.
http://capwiz.com/txosteo/home/
You will have a choice of printing the letter (which you will have to physically mail) or using email.
If you have any problems, call Sam Tessen at 800-444.8662.
TCOM Advocacy contributions please include the following link – contributions can be made on-line
very easily! https://m360.txosteo.org/admin/forms/ViewForm.aspx?id=17983
TOMA PAC – MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION TODAY; ADD YOUR VOICE! YOUR WAY TO HELP
ADVOCATE!
The Texas Legislature meets again in January 2013. The agenda will be filled with issues of
Great concern to medicine in Texas, like the Medicaid dual eligibles issue, the practice of
medicine by others not trained as physicians, graduate medical education and more residency
slots for Texas medical schools graduates, etc.
Contribute today, contribute regularly!
And you can do it with you credit card…call the TOMA office.
VOICES ON THE WEB: MD OPTION AT UNTHSC
http://www.eyedrd.org/category/unthsc
Please “LIKE” the TOMA Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/133062233105/
Do you have a Facebook page? Let us know:
LEAVING A LASTING LEGACY: Including a charitable donation in your will or in the memory of a loved one can have benefits for you as well as the TOMA organization and the future osteopathic profession. The TOMA Foundation is there for you today!
What do you have that you would like to include in a museum for Texas Osteopathic Medicine in the TOMA Austin office? We’ve got a start. Help get a Museum of Texas Osteopathic Medicine off the ground! Make your gift or contribution through the TOMA Foundation and it could be tax deductible!
ON THE SCHEDULE AND DISTRICT MEETINGS:
District 2 Thursday, January 17, 2013
Fort Worth, TX
District 7 Thursday, January 17, 2013, 6:30 p.m.
Perry's Steak House
114 West 7th Street
Austin, TX 78701
512-474-6300
TOMA MIDWINTER CONFERENCE & LEGISLATIVE SYMPOSIUM
February 8-10, 2013, Dallas, TX
Come one, come all to the TOMA 57th Midwinter Conference during the dates of February 8-10, 2013 at the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas, TX. Some of the topics to be discussed will be osteopathic manipulative medicine, screening of colorectal cancer, migraines, rheumatology, diabetes, osteopathic continuous certification and the Clinical Assessment Program.
This conference will offer 16 Category 1-A CME credits anticipated with up to 7 additional 1A CME Credits for attending the “Practice Management and Revenue Enhancement Workshop”. American Academy of Family Physicians 14 prescribed credits anticipated, 1 credit approved for Medical Ethics – Professional Responsibility.
Click Here for More Information and to Register
D.O.M.E. Day 2013
D.O.’s for Medical Excellence
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
8am - mid afternoon
Osteopathic Legislative Day with the Texas Legislature
Meet us in Austin, TX at the TOMA building
1415 Lavaca Street, Austin, TX 78701
Register ONLINE at: https://m360.txosteo.org/ViewForm.aspx?id=26836
ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE:
Are you completely happy with the system of medicine in Texas? Do you feel that your interests as an Osteopathic Physician are being protected? Do you know that you have a direct say in the direction and policies of your TOMA organization? How so, you may ask. The resolution process gives both policy and direction to TOMA and its leadership. And it is you, the member, who can have a DIRECT influence to that end.
I, as the Speaker of the House of Delegates, would ask that you spend a bit of time in consideration for submitting a resolution to the 2013 House. Take ownership in your profession and help us help all DO’s in Texas as we continue to provide medical care second to none in this great state!
Ray L. Morrison, DO, Speaker of the TOMA House of Delegates
Are you registered to Vote?
TEXAS LEGISLATURE ONLINE: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/
WHO REPRESENTS ME IN WASHINGTON, D.C., AND IN AUSTIN?
Who is my U.S. Congressman/woman?
Who is my State Senator; Who is my State
Representative?
http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/
REGIONAL EXTENSION CENTERS
If you contact them directly, tell them you heard about their services from the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association (TOMA).
Gulf Coast Regional Extension Center (GCREC):
University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
For more information, call 713) 500-3479 orvisit theGCREC website.
North Texas Regional Extension Center (NTREC):
Dallas Fort-Worth Hospital Council
For more information, call (469) 648-5140or visit theNTREC website.
West Texas Regional Extension Center (WTxHITREC):
Texas Tech Health Science Center
For more information, call (806) 743-7960 or visit theWTxHITREC website.
83rd TEXAS LEGISLATURE IS IN SESSION
The 83rd Texas Legislature is gaveled to order at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 8th. There again will be hot issues for medicine in the State of Texas, including the TCOM MD issue, Medicaid payments for dual eligible recipients, access to rotations for foreign medical students, and others. You can count on tort reform and attempts to broaden scope of practice for non-physicians to be on the table.
This is the Legislative Agenda that TOMA has adopted for this session; Use these when communicating with your legislature and/or their staff:
Texas Osteopathic Medical Association (TOMA)
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA, 2012-2013
1. TCOM MD option – protect against any attempt to change the existing law that prohibits the UNT Board of
Regents from awarding a MD degree
a. Texas Education Code, Title 3, Chapter 105,
b. CHAPTER 105. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS SYSTEM
c. Sec.105.402.PROHIBITED DEGREES.The board may not award an M.D. degree.
2. GME - Restore Medicaid funding for Graduate Medical Education; Graduate Medical Education transforms
Medical Students Into Physicians
a. Texas needs more graduate medical education (GME) slots to train the number of physicians required to care for our rapidly growing population,
b. An investment in GME is an investment in the health of Texans and our economy.
c. The most cost efficient way to increase the physician supply is to increase residencies in the state.
3. Tort Reform - Continue to defend the 2003 medical liability reforms
a. Protect the 2003 health care liability reforms, including caps on noneconomic damages and protecting emergency services.
4. Scope of Practice - Protect the safety of health care to patients by ensuring those who provide health care
services provide those services for which they are well trained; Keep patients safe by upholding a
single standard of care overseen by the Texas Medical Board
a. Scope of practice of health care professionals is to be limited by their education, training, and skills.
b. Ensure Texas Medical Board has proper oversight of physicians’ delegation of prescriptive authority and other responsibilities to allied health practitioners.
c. APN’s practicing medicine - Place advanced practice nurses under the supervision of TMB, in much the same way as the PA’s report to the TMB.
5. Financing of Medicaid
a. Medicaid funding should include provisions for physician reimbursement that reflects costs of providing medical care to program recipients
i. Medicaid payments still lag far behind other payment rates. 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.
ii. Restore funds for dual eligibility Medicaid, Medicare patients
6. Recognize the accumulative health care costs to the state, physician and patient of corporate and bureaucratic ‘requirements’ and practices imposed paperwork, hassles, and intrusions into patient care by nonessential tasks such as pre- and post-authorizations, hours spent haggling over payment, and fighting with insurance company clerks about the appropriate treatment for a patient.
7. Rural Health
a. Regain funding for the Physician Education Loan repayment Program
ADDITIONAL LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
˃ TMB, Work for an adequately funded, strong and fair Texas Medical Board with due process protections for
physicians under investigation;
˃ Corporate Practice of Medicine - Help rural physicians maintain their practices while protecting physicians’
clinical autonomy
a. 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. Medical care decisions should be between the physician and the patient.
˃ Workers' Compensation - Monitor the Workers' Compensation program in the Dept. of Insurance and work to
ensure a fair and viable program for both injured workers and the doctors that care for them
˃ Rural Health
a. Regain funding for the Physician Education Loan repayment Program
˃ Retail Health Clinics - To be required to meet the same requirements as a physician’s office and ensure that
services provided fall safely under the educational and training experience of the non-physician provider.
a. Retail clinics must share health records in a timely fashion with patients’ primary physicians and direct patients to their physician for follow-up care.
˃ Electronic prescription monitoring for controlled substances and other prescription issues- Support an
efficient and effective electronic prescription monitoring system for all controlled substances.
a. The system should be automated and minimize compliance issues for both pharmacists and physicians.
b. Appeal to the Dept. of Public Safety to streamline processing of controlled substance permit applications.
c. Help Patients Get Their Prescribed Medications – “therapeutic substitutions should require both physician and patient awareness and acceptance
˃ Public Health, Preventive and Other Issues
a. Better Immunization Tracking; it is critical that the state maintain good data on who has been vaccinated and when.
b. Tackle the childhood and adult obesity epidemic
c. Community-based programs to ensure children have safe neighborhoods and access to healthy food
d. Enhance Cancer Research, Detection, and Prevention
e. Access to mental health care services
f. Investing in a robust primary and subspecialty physician network as well as evidence-based preventive health services will result in much-needed savings down the road.
˃ Advocacy on federal health laws, rules, and programs
a. Advocate repeal of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and especially the Independent Payment Advisory Board
b. Proposed decrease in government decrease in funding to GME and in fact increase it by increasing slots and removing freeze on GME slots
c. Finalize permanent changes to the flawed SGR to prevent cuts to physician payment
d. Appeal to the CMS to abandon implementation of CPT 10
˃ DO representation on health-related boards, commissions and committees
83rd LEGISLATURE FACES A NEW SET OF PRIORITIES
by The Texas Tribune Staff
January 6, 2013
HEALTH CARE
Lawmakers will be responding to scandals in the health care arena that have rocked the state’s cancer research institute and its Medicaid program, and federal reforms that will dramatically alter Texas’ medical landscape.
As criminal and civil investigations of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas continue, rebuilding public trust in the $3 billion, voter-approved initiative will be a top priority. Lawmakers have also filed bills to tackle Medicaid fraud among dental and orthodontic providers.
In response to federal health care reform — so-called Obamacare — lawmakers must decide whether Texas will expand Medicaid to cover poor, uninsured adults or set up an Orbitz-like online insurance exchange. Perry has insisted that Texas will not play ball, but decisions by the state’s Republican majority could pressure the governor to accept federal reforms and the money that comes with them.
Some lawmakers may be reconsidering a $73 million cut to family planning services that was made in the last session, which was largely an effort to force Planned Parenthood out of state programs. They will also be looking at the rules and financing of the Texas Women’s Health Program, the successor of a federally financed program that ended after the state enforced a rule banning providers affiliated with abortion clinics.
Abortion opponents are also backing a “fetal pain” measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, and a bill to place tougher requirements on doctors who perform abortions.
From: Texas Tribune News Clips, Texas Weekly News Clips, by the Texas Tribune, Inc., www.texasweekly.com
RATE CUT FOR VALLEY PHYSICIANS PARTIALLY RESTORED
Posted: Sunday, January 6, 2013 5:56 pm | Updated: 6:36 pm, Sun Jan 6, 2013.
PARTIAL RELIEF
The state provided partial relief beginning Jan. 1 to physicians who care for dual eligibles, the poor, elderly patients who receive benefits from both Medicare — the federal insurance program for the elderly — and Medicaid, the federal-state program that cares for the poor and those with disabilities. State legislators looking to balance the budget in 2011 implemented changes projected to save the state $380 million by adjusting the complex interaction between Medicare and Medicaid payments to physicians.
For physicians who cared for dual eligibles, the deepest cut was stopping Medicaid from paying all of the dual eligible patients’ $140 annual Medicare deductible. Since dual eligible patients rarely have the money to pay the deductible themselves, doctors took the hit.
The Texas Legislative Budget Board authorized the Health and Human Services Commission to reinstate coverage of the Medicare deductible beginning Jan. 1. The change came after state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Valley doctors met with the state’s leadership last month in Austin about the deleterious effect the cut was having on their practices.