ment of the mandate until Jan. 1, 2015. It was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2014. “We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Mark J. Mazur, assistant sec- retary for tax policy, wrote in the blog.


“We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to do this re- porting already provide health insurance to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so.” The delay does not affect other PPA-


CA provisions, the Internal Revenue Ser- vice (IRS) said in a July 8 notice. “This transition relief will provide additional time for input from employers and other reporting entities in an effort to simplify information reporting consistent with ef- fective implementation of the law,” the IRS said, adding it “also is intended to provide employers, insurers, and other providers of minimum essential cover- age time to adapt their health coverage and reporting systems.”


Website helps you save babies


A free Texas-based website — http:// neonate.net/TxPOP/ — will help physi- cians and hospitals comply with a new state law requiring the screening of all newborn babies for critical congenital heart disease (CCHD). The University of Texas Health Sci- ence Center at San Antonio and the Texas Pediatric Society also plan to have this information on their websites in the future. The site is part of the Texas Pulse


Oximetry Project (TxPOP) that Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, UT Health Science Center-San Antonio, and 12 other birthing facilities in the South Texas and Houston area es- tablished in 2012 in anticipation of the legislation. TxPOP trains nurses, physi- cians, and other health care profession- als at delivering hospitals in Texas on CCHD newborn screening using pulse oximetry.


Alice Gong, MD, at UT School of 10 TEXAS MEDICINE September 2013


Medicine in San Antonio, and Charleta Guillory, MD, at Baylor, members of the TxPOP Project, developed the materials. TMA Immediate Past President Mi- chael E. Speer, MD, medical director of the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program at Texas Children’s Hospital and profes- sor of pediatrics and ethics at Baylor, says similar sites in other states “charge a significant amount of money to pro- vide the same information.”


TMA Foundation elects new leaders


Fort Worth obstetrician-gynecologist G. Sealy Massingill, MD, was elected presi- dent of the Texas Medical Association Foundation (TMAF) Board of Trustees at TexMed 2013 in May. TMAF, the philanthropic arm of TMA,


makes initiatives possible that stress pre- vention and healthier lifestyles for more Texans. TMAF raises funds and connects medicine, business, and community groups that carry out these programs at the local and state levels. “We all have a stake in a healthier


Texas,” said Dr. Massingill. “Yet chronic conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and stroke affect many Texans and carry an enormous burden in terms of cost and human suffering. That’s why I will work to expand the foundation’s collab- orative efforts to join more physicians, businesses, and community groups who, with grant support from TMAF, can best impact the health of their communities.” Dr. Massingill chairs the Depart- ment of Obstetrics and Gynecology at JPS Health Network and is an associate professor in the Department of Obstet- rics and Gynecology at the University of North Texas Health Science Center/ Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. He also is medical director of midwifery at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospi- tal in Fort Worth. Deborah A. Fuller, MD, a board-cer- tified obstetrician-gynecologist in Dallas, was elected vice president. Dr. Fuller is an active leader in organized medicine. She is immediate past chair of TMA’s Council on Health Promotion. She also


is a past chair of the TMAF Nominat- ing Committee and a past cochair of the TMAF annual gala fundraiser. D’Anna Wick, a Tyler community vol-


unteer, was elected secretary. Ms. Wick serves on the TMAF Grants Committee, which develops the annual grants bud- get, evaluates grant applications, and makes funding recommendations to the full board. She was president of the TMA Alliance in 2009–10 and currently is a member of its board of directors. James A. Prentice, MD, a retired Aus- tin anesthesiologist, was elected treasur- er. Dr. Prentice is a past president of the Travis County Medical Society. He cur- rently serves on the Development Board at The University of Texas at Austin and on the UT System Foundation Board and is a past chair of the UT College of Natural Sciences Advisory Council. He is a past chair of the St. David’s Episcopal Church Foundation and serves on the Community Health Access Committee of St. David’s Foundation. Milla Perry Jones, of Dallas, was elected at-large member of the board. Ms. Jones is vice president of United Surgical Partners International.


Flappers and gangsters raise funds for TMA programs


Nearly 500 physicians, TMA Alliance members and guests, statewide com- munity leaders, and corporate sponsors enjoyed the TMA Foundation’s Roaring Twentieth Anniversary Gala, raising more than $300,000, on May 17 in San Antonio.


Held in conjunction with TexMed 2013, the annual event supports TMA’s health improvement campaigns, includ- ing Be Wise — Immunize and the Minor- ity Scholarship Program. Gala cochairs Drs. Rajam and Somay- aji Ramamurthy and Dr. Bernard T. and Mrs. Kathy Swift, all of San Antonio, led the successful event, which included re- ceptions, silent and live auctions, dinner, and the Make A Difference drive, which raised more than $30,000 for TMA’s Hard Hats for Little Heads program.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68