TMA Action June 1, 2010	News and Insights from Texas Medical Association
INSIDE: Congress Leaves, Medicare Fees Cut
Congress Leaves, Medicare Fees Cut FTC Delays Red Flags Rule Until December HSR Tele-Town Hall Meeting a Success TDI Requires Quality in Physician Ratings Medicaid Fee Cut Impact Lessened AMA Mimics TMA Insurance Conduct Code Loan Application Deadline Approaches United Settlement Claims Money Available Balance Bill Mediation Required by Law Print full text version of Action	PQRI Reporting Period Begins Next Month Medicaid Substance Abuse Benefits Coming Legislative News Is King FDA Says Rotarix Vaccine OK TMA Foundation Seeks Grant Proposals Leadership College Applications Due June 15 Full-Time Medical Biller Needed in Austin This Month in Texas Medicine Do You Twitter? Follow TMA
Congress Leaves, Medicare Fees Cut Medicare payments to physicians dropped 21.2 percent June 1 because Congress opted to go on vacation without doing anything to stop it. The Senate recessed for Memorial Day without acting, after attempts to approve a House-passed bill delaying the cut – part of legislation extending unemployment benefits – failed because some senators balked at the cost of the approximately $143 billion bill. Read the rest of the story... FTC Delays Red Flags Rule Until December The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delayed until Dec. 31 enforcement of the "red flags rule" that was scheduled to take effect June 1. Read the rest of the story... HSR Tele-Town Hall Meeting a Success As part of its campaign to help Texas physicians survive and thrive in the new health care environment, TMA educated 4,200 Texas physicians and medical students on the details of the new health system reform (HSR) law in a statewide telephone town hall meeting May 27. Read the rest of the story... TDI Requires Quality in Physician Ratings Health insurers cannot rank physicians solely on cost, but must take into account quality of care when they rate their performance under rules the Texas Department of Insurance adopted in May. Read the rest of the story... Medicaid Fee Cut Impact Lessened State officials released their spending cuts May 18, and it appears there's a little bit of good news for some physicians in the state Medicaid program. Read the rest of the story...
AMA Mimics TMA Insurance Conduct Code Taking a cue from TMA, the American Medical Association released its own Health Insurer Code of Conduct Principles and called on all health insurers to adopt consistent corporate practices that will bring transparency and accountability to the health insurance industry. Read the rest of the story... Loan Application Deadline Approaches July 1 is the deadline to apply for funds under the Children's Medicaid Loan Repayment Program. Read the rest of the story... United Settlement Claims Money Available About $300 million is available to physicians who want to file a claim against UnitedHealthcare from the settlement of a lawsuit against the company over its system for determining "usual, customary, and reasonable" charges for out-of-network services. Read the rest of the story... Balance Bill Mediation Required by Law State law requires facility-based physicians to notify patients that they have the right to mediate balance-bill disputes for services provided at a network facility by a facility-based physician who is out of network. Read the rest of the story...
PQRI Reporting Period Begins Next Month Physicians still have time to participate in Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) and potentially qualify to receive incentive payments. Read the rest of the story... Medicaid Substance Abuse Benefits Coming The Texas Health and Human Services Commission will roll out the new Medicaid substance use disorder treatment benefits for adults in September.  Read the rest of the story... Legislative News Is King The results from TMA's May survey indicate that state legislative issues are the No. 1 topic of interest to physicians in Action and Texas Medicine. Read the rest of the story... FDA Says Rotarix Vaccine OK It is safe for physicians to resume administering the Rotarix rotavirus vaccine and to continue using the RotaTeq rotavirus vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says. Read the rest of the story... TMA Foundation Seeks Grant Proposals The TMA Foundation Board of Trustees is seeking proposals from county medical societies, alliances, and medical student chapters for the 2010-11 Medical Community Grants and Medical Student Community Leadership Grants. Read the rest of the story...
What Can Practice Production Numbers Tell You? Consider these factors if your production isn't consistent. A practice management tip from TMA Practice Consulting
Leadership College Applications Due June 15 Physicians interested in participating in TMA's new TMA Leadership College must submit an application by June 15. Read the rest of the story... Full-Time Medical Biller Needed in Austin A small specialty medical office in Austin seeks a full-time medical biller. Read the rest of the story... This Month in Texas Medicine The June issue of Texas Medicine tells you how the health system reform bill came about and what impact experts think it will have on physicians and patients. You'll also learn about physicians' confusion over Medicare's PECOS enrollment system, find out how TMA Practice Consulting can help you code claims correctly, and be introduced to a new book that helps parents decide if they need to take their children to the emergency room. In addition, you can read the 2009 TMA Annual Report and meet our new president, Susan Rudd Bailey, MD. Also, you can subscribe to RSS feeds for TMA Practice E-Tips, TMA news releases, Blogged Arteries, and Texas Medicine. Read the rest of the story... Do You Twitter? Follow TMA As part of its work to explore new communications technologies, TMA has set up an account on Twitter, a new "micro-blogging" service. Read the rest of the story...
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