For Health System Reform info and updates...
Illinois Supreme Court strikes down medical malpractice caps: Crain's via Chicago Business, Feb. 4, 2010. The Illinois Supreme Court on has struck down a 4-year-old law that caps jury payouts in medical malpractice cases, infuriating doctors and hospitals that claim those caps were helping to tame once-soaring liability costs. The court ruled that the caps on pain and suffering and other non-economic damages - $500,000 per case for doctors and $1 million for hospitals - violated the Illinois Constitution's "separation of powers" clause, essentially finding that lawmakers interfered with the right of juries to determine fair damages. More
Political Prognosis: TMA Scores Scores Wins in Legislative Session. Detailed summary from TMA of the 2009 state legislative session. (June 2009)
Legislators Follow Doctor's Orders in 2009 Session. Summary from TMA in pdf format. (June 2009)
A very successful Legislative Session for our patients and organized medicine. Summary of the 2009 state legislative session. HCMS Newsletter, President's Page, June 2009 issue
Standing on the Lege (update #3): We are halfway done. It’s hard to believe but Monday is Day 70, the halfway point of this legislative session. In spite of the fact that nearly 8000 bills have been filed, 20 percent more in the House than in ’07, there really hasn’t been much happening on the House and Senate floors. In the House, there are only 17 bills that have made it through the committee process and are ready for debate on the floor. The Senate has been focusing on highly political matters such as voter ID and abortion but not much else. More
Standing on the Lege (update #2): The conversation in the halls of the Capitol is mostly about House committee assignments and who'll get what. The expectation is that we’ll know Thursday or Friday of next week. The underlying political tension is between Democrats who think Speaker Joe Straus should reward them for making up 80 percent of the vote that put him in the Speaker’s chair and Republicans who think he needs to consolidate power within his own party in the closely divided chamber to have any chance of hanging on to the controls. More
Jumping Off the Lege (update #1): Each week an update will be provided of the actions of the 81st Texas Legislature through HCMS Direct. These updates are designed to provide you with details and some of the inside information about what’s going on up in Austin so that you can stay informed and be ready to act when we need you. Our success in Austin depends on the grassroots activities of our physicians. We need you to stay informed and stay active. More
A different kind of storm: Another storm is on the way...the Texas Legislature. We anticipate there will be more than 2,000 bills filed that will relate in some way to health care. HCMS and TMA will follow them closely and be the leading advocates for many of them. For a brief preview of our hightest priority issues for the 2009 session... More
Five Things You Can Do for Your Practice: Today's health care system is broken, but there are some things you can do to effect real change. More
TEXPAC unveils 2008 Slate: The Texpac Board of Directors has finished compiling the all-star list of endorsements. The roster includes patient and physician friendly candidates for the Texas Legislature, U.S. Congress and the judiciary. More
Dr. J. James Rohack, AMA: How Texas can meet the growing demand for health care (Statesman, Oct. 1) More
Proposition 12 a winner five years later (Star-Telegram, Oct. 1) More
Both Sides Now Working to Stop Medicare Cuts: Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) has drafted legislation to halt the 10.6% cut to Medicare physician reimbursements. More
TMA House of Delegates: TexMed 2008 Summary of Actions .gif)
- Status of HCMS Resolutions
Physician Ownership: One Battle Won
Comptroller revises franchise tax rules (definitions and calculations)
Comptroller extends franchise tax deadline
Summary of 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Care Reform Proposals
Patient Action Needed to Fix Medicare: Help us educate patients on how Medicare is imploding if Congress does not take action now. • Fliers for your waiting and exam rooms • Sample "Letter to the editor" for local paper
Senate Passes Medicare Package: The U.S. Senate passed legislation by unanimous consent that replaces a 10.1% physician payment cut with a 0.5% increase for six months, extends expiring rural physician payment provisions and the Medicare physician quality reporting initiative and extends the SCHIP program through March 31, 2009.
• Summary Extension Act of 2007 •AMA summary of the bill that passed
Doctors Testify on TMB: HCMS President Elect, Dr. A. Tomas Garcia III, testified in Austin about the Texas Medical Board. More
Medical Liability Rate Reduction:As a result of the Proposition 12 (2003 medical liability insurance premium reductions), two large carriers announced rate cuts effective Jan. 1, 2008. More
Texas Medical Board hearings Oct. 23: Hearings on the Texas Medical Board (TMB) will be held on Tuesday, October 23, by the House Subcommitee on Regulatory Agencies at 10 a.m. in room E1.030 of the Capitol Annex in Austin. This is your opportunity to let legislators know how you feel about the TMB's discplinary process, its licensing procedures or any other related issues. The hearings are required by a bill that the HCMS and TMA advocated for during the 2007 Texas Legislature.
• Review of Texas Medical Board Discipline - Review report
MEDICARE ALERT! If Congress doesn't act before the end of the year, YOUR Medicare reimbursements will be cut by a minimum of 5%. We need you to ACT NOW! [more ]
Medicare Storm Strenghtens
Smoke Free Houston
Stark Exemption for EHRs
End of Moratorium on Specialty Hospitals
TMA Intervention Delays new Managed Care Credentialing Form
Patient Care Preserved - TMA Report of 2007 Texas Legislature
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