Tag: Texas Medical Association (TMA)
5 State and Federal Training Mandates
There are five topics that physicians and their staff must receive training on regularly per state and federal requirements, and the TMA Education Center offers programs to meet those mandates.
All these programs are free to members and their staff as a benefit of membership, saving members $200 or more per program or more than $2,000 combined. Find them in the TMA Education Center under the Opioid and Mandated Trainings topics.
State:
- Human trafficking: Meets all required Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Human Trafficking Training Standards, is approved by HHSC in accordance with House Bill 2059 (2019), and addresses how to recognize, screen for, and report suspected human trafficking.
- Pain management and the prescribing and monitoring of controlled substances required by the Texas Medical Board: State requirement for a total of 2 hours of formal CME that count as ethics credit and addresses:
- Best practices, alternative treatment options, and multimodal approaches to pain management that may include physical therapy, psychotherapy, and other treatments;
- Safe and effective pain management related to the prescription of opioids and other controlled substances, including education regarding standards of care; identification of drug-seeking behavior in patients; and effectively communicating with patients about the prescription of an opioid or other controlled substances; and
- Prescribing and monitoring of controlled substances.
Federal:
- OSHA: Federal requirement for annual training for all health care workers.
- Treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders required for all U.S. DEA-registered practitioners: Federal requirement, one-time 8 hours of specified training.
Federal and state:
- HIPAA and Texas medical privacy laws: Federal and state requirements annually, regularly, and/or within 90 days of hiring.
TMA’s Education Center also has dozens of other courses you can find anytime, available at no cost to members thanks to TMA Insurance Trust.
Disclaimer: Participation in this program in no way implies the participant has fully met the federally and state-mandated training requirements. Participants are solely responsible for ensuring any mandated training requirements are completed.
Notice of Data Breach Update
Texas physician practices and other health care facilities soon will be required to give more timely and public notice of any breaches of computerized data, including electronic health records (EHRs) and billing information.
During the 2023 regular legislative session, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 768 by Sen. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound), which takes effect Sept. 1. The law requires anyone doing business in Texas to notify the state attorney general of computer security breaches involving the sensitive, personal information of at least 250 individuals as soon as possible, and not later than 30 days after discovery, down from 60 days.
More on DEA Training
Please click on this link “DEA Registered-Practioners” to read the Letter from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Pay close attention to “Group 2”. There are other ways to satisfy the training requirement.
Additional Links:
TMA Welcomed Unanimous Passage of House Bill 3359.
A major win for medicine in that it codifies the state’s network adequacy rules by putting them into statute and strengthens their enforcement by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI).
“HB 3359 restricts insurers from making unilateral contract changes and tackles the problematic waiver process which leaves patients unprotected and in the dark.”
TMA now looks to the rulemaking process. TDI has indicated it likely will rewrite the state network adequacy rules impacted by HB 3359
THE END IS NEAR
What’s Next for Telehealth?
Medicare vs Inflation
As part of a broader push for Medicare payment reform, the Texas Medical Association, along with the American Medical Association and 133 national specialty and state medical associations, recently called on Congress to index Medicare physician payments to inflation.
ASK THE EXPERT
TMA RESOURCES |
Ask the Expert: End of the Public Health EmergencyOn March 29 via Zoom, join TMA experts in this interactive Q&A session as they discuss how best to prepare your practice for upcoming changes as the public health emergency winds down on May 11. They will discuss the impact on Medicaid coverage, telehealth, and COVID vaccines and treatments for which you can earn CME. Send your questions in advance. Register now. |
Prevent Improper Code Bundling
Physicians can take advantage of a new Medicare tool to sort through service codes that can be bundled together for claims payment – and AVOID improper billing.
The CMS recently released the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) procedure-to-procedure (PTP) lookup tool to promote accurate code-bundling and prevent improper payment of Medicare Part B and Medicaid claims when incorrect code combinations are reported.
Available via Texas’ Medicare contractor Novitas Solutions, the tool is further designed to help physicians identify when certain pairs of codes are subject to automated edits.
AND FOR EVEN MORE TOOLS
CLICK ON ANY OF THE BUTTONS BELOW
Beware of Phony TMB, DEA Agents
The Texas Medical Board (TMB) continues warning physicians to be on alert for scammers involving criminals who pose as officials from TMB or other state and federal agencies.
“In some instances callers may claim to be employees with the Texas Medical Board, DEA, FBI or other law enforcement entity and may even attempt to spoof agency phone numbers or send documents on official-looking letterhead demanding money,” TMB said in its alert. “Please know the TMB would never call and make such requests for sensitive information over the phone or send demand letters for money to reinstate licenses or threaten the arrest of licensees. The TMB does not suspend licenses at the direction of the DEA, FBI or other federal entity. Additionally, the TMB has no authority to issue, cancel, or influence arrest warrants as some scams have indicated.”
According to the DEA notice, the criminals mask their telephone number on caller ID by displaying the DEA Registration Support 800 number. A real DEA employee would not contact a registrant and demand money, or threaten to suspend someone’s registration over the phone, the DEA says. FBI has issued similar fraud alerts.
If you receive such a call from someone claiming to be either a DEA or TMB official, report it using the DEA’s online extortion scam reporting form here.
Prescription Take Back Day Oct. 29
Help put a dent in the prescription drug misuse in Texas and around the country by reminding your patients to dispose of unused medications safely and anonymously on Oct. 29, National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
Since the first event in 2010, more than 15 million pounds of prescription drugs have been collected across the country – more than 1 million in Texas – according to DEA. Collection sites may include physicians’ practices, community health centers, hospitals, police stations, schools, and other private businesses
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