DON’T MISS FIRST TUESDAYS AT THE CAPITOL IN 2017
Your patients and your profession need you to be a lobbyist for a day. Mark your calendar now to join the Party of Medicine in Austin for First Tuesdays at the Capitol during the 85th Texas Legislature on March 7, April 4, and/or May 2, 2017. The March 7 event is designated the oficial TMA Alliance First Tuesday, as well as the young and newly licensed physician event. The April 4 event is dedicated to medical students and residents. TMA’s comprehensive 2017 legislative agenda advocates
what’s best for patients and their physicians, from preserving physicians’ right to bill for services to improving Medicaid payment rates and reducing red tape and hassles. (See more at
www.texmed.org/legislature.) For more information or to register, visit
www.texmed.org/ firsttuesdays, or call (800) 880-1300, ext. 1363.
pervision. To view the rule, visit tma .tips/VApolicy. Before adoption of the new policy,
TMA joined more than 75 national spe- cialty societies and state medical asso- ciations in voicing their strong opposi- tion to the proposed rule. TMA and the organizations outlined their concerns in a letter to David J. Shulkin, MD, then- VA undersecretary. The letter urged the VA to consider policy alternatives that prioritize team-based care rather than independent nursing practice. To read the letter, visit tma.tips/TMAVAletter. The Coalition of State Medical Soci-
eties, of which TMA is a member, also sent a strongly worded letter to the VA, stating, “Our veterans have earned and deserve the highest quality and best care, but this rule would lower the standard of care for veterans around the country.” That letter pointed out, for example, that CRNAs “do not have the 12,000 to 16,000 hours of clinical training and nearly a decade of formal postgraduate education and residency training that enables anesthesiologists to prevent and respond competently and swiftly in critical emergencies be- fore, during and after surgery.” The American Medical Associa-
tion says it is “disappointed” by the VA’s decision to allow most advanced practice registered nurses within the VA to practice independently of a phy- sician’s clinical oversight, regardless of individual state law. AMA issued this statement re-
garding the VA’s adoption of the rule: “Providing coordinated, physician-led, patient-centered, team-based patient care is the best approach to improving quality care for our country’s veterans, especially given the highly-complex medical care that veterans often re- quire. The nation’s top health care systems rely on these physician-led teams to achieve improved care and patient health, while reducing costs. We expect the same for our country’s veterans, and look to these systems as evidence that physician-led, team- based models of care are the future of American health care.
18 TEXAS MEDICINE March 2017
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
