Rounds NEWS FROM AMERICA’S BEST MEDICAL SOCIETY
HOD reaffirms TMA Medicaid reform stance
The Texas Medical Association House of Delegates (HOD) adopted the Board of Trustees’ position statement on expanded health care coverage and Medicaid reform and added a provision calling for equality in Medicaid and Medicare fees during its May meeting at TexMed 2013 in San Antonio. Earlier this year, trustees said political leaders in Washington and Austin must immediately develop a bipartisan solution to reform the state’s Medicaid program and expand coverage for low-income adults. TMA leaders called on state leaders and lawmakers to “look beyond the federal government expansion solution and design a solution that works for Texas and for Texans.”
TMA officials emphasized that the association is seeking expansion of coverage for poor adults that is not traditional Medicaid. The state, they say, has the ability to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on a proposal that:
• Has patient copays and deductibles, • Allows the state to develop a benefit package that makes sense for this patient population, and
• Allows the state to drop out of the program if conditions change. TMA calls on Texans to use their ingenuity to “devise a comprehensive solution
that:
• Draws down all available federal dollars to expand access to health care for poor Texans;
• Gives Texas the flexibility to change the plan as our needs and circumstances change;
• Clears away Medicaid’s financial, administrative, and regulatory hurdles that are driving up costs and driving Texas physicians away from the program; and
• Relieves local Texas taxpayers from the unfair and unnecessary burden of paying the entire cost of caring for their uninsured neighbors.”
During their debate, delegates voted to add additional points to TMA’s position. They call for a system that “provides Medicaid payments directly to physicians for patient care equal to at least those of Medicare payments” and that continues to “up- hold and improve due process of law for physicians in the State of Texas as it relates to the Office of Inspector General.” The house also voted against a resolution urging TMA to oppose Medicaid ex-
pansion and against another resolution asking the association to support repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Among their action on more than 70
resolutions and reports, delegates voted to:
• Oppose policies that hinder a physi- cian’s “autonomous clinical decision- making authority”;
• Support legislation giving physicians the authority to place an emergency psychiatric hold on patients who pose a danger to themselves or others until a judge can hear the case;
• Oppose any Texas Medical Board ef- fort to require the Federation of State Medical Boards’ Maintenance of Li- censure program as a condition of receiving a medical license;
• Approve TMA’s participation in the Choosing Wisely (
www.choosing
wisely.org/) quality improvement campaign and support best-practice models such as Bridges to Excellence (
www.hci3.org/node/1/) modules for asthma, cardiac care, and diabetes;
• Work with local emergency medical officials to increase the number of automated external defibrillators in Texas communities;
• Support efforts to fight obesity by lim- iting use of computers, television, or electronic games at home and in child care facilities by children aged 2 and older to fewer than two hours per day, and preventing such “screen time” for children younger than 2;
• Collaborate with the food and res- taurant industries to increase menu labeling;
July 2013 TEXAS MEDICINE 7
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