There is a far amount of legislation that effects the practice of medicine. As time permits, I will track the bills and provide some analysis of these bills. These are some of the significant bills:
HB 201, Morrison. Required TMB to do rule making. Known as the sonogram bill. Must show a sonogram to a woman [...]
The Board has created an Ad Hoc Committee on Physician Advertising. The members on the committee are Dr. Patrick Crocker will be chair. The members of the committee are Drs. McMichael, McNeese, Williford, Arambula, and Zeilter, as well as public members Turner, Southard, and Webb. This committee will first meet at the April Board meeting. [...]
The Texas Physician Health Program (PHP) is continuing to grow. The Medical Director, Dr. Lloyd Garland reported to the Texas Medical Board that it has offered 364 monitoring agreements to date the nearly year the PHP has been operational. Of those contracts, 322 have been accepted. Additionally, there are 26 Physician Assistants enrolled in the [...]
The Executive Director of the Texas Medical Board, Mari Robinson, reported the Texas Medical Board is currently has 1341 open investigations. For fiscal year 2011, which started September 1, 2010, the Board has opened 617 investigations. Currently, she reports the Board is opening approximately 250 cases per month. This fiscal year, the Board has completed 992 investigations.
Ms. [...]
The Texas Medical Board announced Thursday that Linda Gage-White, M.D., will become Medical Director of the agency in mid-January.
Gage-White, an ear, nose and throat specialist, served on the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners from 2002 to 2010 as president, vice-president and as a member of the Licensure Committee and the Board’s Malpractice Committee.
“We’re [...]
Very interesting article on the effects of malpractice reform in Texas. The story states the number of medical practice suits have fallen 60% and pay-outs cut by a third
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/us/19tttort.html?pagewanted=1&_r=4&sq=tort reform&st=cse&scp=1
Currently, there is no law that prohibits this practice. With the legislature coming to town, there may be a push by the Texas Medical Association to ban this practice, but I do not see the legislature doing so this session. There are too many other issues to tackle and it is anti-free market.
However, the Texas [...]
On December 7th, the Governor, the Lt. Governor, and the Speaker of House sent a letter to all state agencies, including all the health licensing board, and directed them to cut 2.5% of their budget for rest of the 2011 Fiscal Year. The FY 2011 began on September 1st. The FY 2011 began with a [...]
According to public information on December 3, 2010, the Texas Physician Health Program, which also serves Physician Assistants and Acupuncturist, now has more than 100 people enrolled in its monitoring program.
The two big issues that are still unsettled is how to deal with licensees who agree to cease their practice altogether. The Medical Board and [...]
The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling and allowed the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) to continue its lawsuit against the Texas Medical Board (the Board). The lower court had previously found that the AAPS lacked standing (ability of a party to demonstrate to the court connection to [...]