appeals deadline until physicians re- ceive such information;
• Tell AMA and the state medical societ- ies how many patients are impacted and which physicians were terminat- ed; and
• Direct plans to hold all terminations initiated just prior to or during open enrollment in abeyance for 2014.
Preparing your EHR for 2014
Physicians participating in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program must upgrade their EHR system to the 2014 certified version before attesting in 2014.
Check the Certified Health IT Prod- uct List at
http://bit.ly/MWH50U to see if your vendor has updated the product you use. If you do not see your EHR list- ed, you should ask your vendor about its timeline so that you can adequately prepare and perform testing before go- ing live with the upgrade product. Because of the EHR upgrade this
year, participants of the EHR incentive program are allowed a 90-day reporting period. Unlike the any-90-day period of your first year of participation, the 2014 90-day reporting period is by quarter:
• Jan. 1 to March 31, • April 1 to June 30, • July 1 to Sept. 30, and • Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.
If 2014 is your first year to report on meaningful use, you may select any 90- day reporting period.
Physicians needing assistance with the EHR incentive program may receive consulting help from one of four Texas regional extension centers (RECs). The RECs are qualified to help physicians navigate the complexities of the pro- gram. Check out TMA’s REC Resource Center at
www.texmed.org/rec to find out which REC serves your area. For more information about EHRs or other health information technology is- sues, contact TMA’s HIT Department at (800) 880-5720 or at
HIT@texmed.org.
12 TEXAS MEDICINE January 2014
Help your patients achieve a healthy weight
program, which offers hands- on tools to help patients establish and achieve their goals. You’ll even find tips to start a discussion about weight loss with your patients.
Do you advise your patients to lose weight? If so, check out the American Medical Association Healthier Life Steps®
The Healthier Life Steps program, of-
fered by TMA, provides these practical resources to help you encourage your patients to exercise, quit smoking, eat healthier, and reduce risky alcohol use:
• Patient lifestyle questionnaires, • Action plans, • Progress-tracking calendars, and • Continuing medical education oppor- tunities.
AMA Healthier Life Steps program materials are free for physicians and pa- tients, courtesy of TMA and AMA. Log on to
www.texmed.org/lifesteps. Physi- cians can download the materials for use in their practice. For more information, email tmaou
treachcoordinator@texmed.org, or call (800) 880-1300, ext. 1470, or (512) 370-1470.
TMA Anson Jones, MD, Awards honor physicians
Do you write a medical column for your local newspaper? Host a radio health show or a weekly medical segment on the local TV news? If so, enter your work in the TMA Anson Jones, MD, Awards contest. For more than 50 years, TMA has
honored award-winning Texas journal- ists with the Anson Jones, MD, Awards for excellent medical news reporting. TMA opened the competition to physi- cian-reporters in 2007 with the Physi- cian Excellence in Reporting category. Log on to
www.texmed.org/anson
jones to enter. Entries are accepted until Jan. 15.
If you have questions, email anson
jones@texmed.org, or call TMA Out- reach Coordinator Tammy Wishard at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1470, or (512) 370-1470.
Medical pioneer Mavis P. Kelsey, MD, dies
Mavis P. Kelsey, MD, cofounder of the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic system in Hous- ton and a TMA member since 1938, died Nov. 12. He was 101. Dr. Kelsey founded Kelsey-Seybold in 1951, along with Bill Seybold, MD; his brother, John Kelsey, MD; and others, in 1951 after returning to Texas following training at the Mayo Clinic. It was there that he embraced the concept of collab- orative practice. Today, Kelsey-Seybold serves more than 400,000 patients at 20 locations and its 415 health care profes- sionals collaboratively practice in more than 55 medical specialties. Born in Deport, Texas, in 1912, he
earned his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University and medical de- gree from The University of Texas Medi- cal Branch at Galveston (UTMB) in 1936. He completed an internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and then was an instructor in pathology, after which he served for a year as instructor of pa- thology at UTMB. He began a three-year fellowship in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in 1939. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force Medical Corps from 1941 to 1945. Dr. Kelsey received many honors over the years, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Texas A&M and an Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award from UTMB.
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