|
|
||||||
|
THE
WEEKLY DOSE |
||||||
|
May 5, 2019 |
Vol. 8, No. 18 |
|||||
|
In this
Issue |
Support BCMS Circle
of Friends Sponsors |
|||||
|
86th
Legislative Session in its final stretch At the time of this writing, there are 25 days left in
the 86th regular session of the Texas Legislature. Over 7,700
bills were filed this session, of which TMA has been monitoring over 1,950 of
those bills. Any bills currently going through the legislative process
in the House must be voted out of House committees by Monday, May 6, in order
to be considered this session. Here’s an update on the status of bills working through
the process: Senate Bill 21 by Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston),
which would raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco and vape products to 21
years, excluding active duty military, was voted out of the House Public
Health Committee on April 15. Next stop is debate on the House
Floor. Senate Bill 732 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), which
would allow patients to have direct access to physical therapists without a
referral from a physician, was heard on April 30 in the Senate Business and
Commerce Committee. The companion bill, House Bill 29 by Rep. Ina
Minjarez (D-San Antonio), was voted out of the House Public Health Committee
on April 24. The legislation has been amended to limit the allowable
number of direct access visits and now requires patient acknowledgement that
they are not receiving a medical diagnosis, nor is the treatment likely to be
covered by insurance. Senate Bill 1264 by Sen. Kelly Hancock
(R-North Richland Hills), is the surprise-billing legislation, which seeks to
end the problem of surprise billing for patients by removing them from the
process altogether. The legislation would implement an arbitration
process in which health plans and physicians work out any billing disputes
using market rate benchmarks. The bill, which passed out of the full Senate
on April 16, is waiting to be heard in the House Insurance Committee. House
Bill 2387 by Rep. Greg Bonnen, MD (R-Friendswood), which would require
that utilization reviews be conducted by a Texas-licensed physician and
that prior authorization processes be more transparent, passed out of the
House Chamber on April 30. The legislation is now in the
Senate. Two bills by Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), House Bill 1256,
which would grant first responders and their employers access to first
responders’ vaccination records on the statewide immunization registry during
a disaster and House Bill 1418, which would provide first responders
and emergency services personnel with their immunization status when they
seek certification or recertification, were heard and left pending in the
Senate Health and Human Services Committee on April 30. A couple of bad bills strongly opposed by TMA were heard
in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on April 30 - Senate
Bill 1867 by Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen), would add “neuro” to
chiropractors’ current statutory scope of practice, which is limited to the
musculoskeletal system; and Senate Bill 2089 by Sen. Bryan Hughes
(R-Mineola) which passed out of the committee, would require hospitals,
physicians, nurses and other health care professionals to provide what
physicians believe amounts to medically inappropriate and potentially harmful
care for an unlimited period of time. Stay tuned to this column for more updates on final weeks
of the 86th Legislative Session, which ends May 27. To
register for the final First Tuesdays visit to the Capitol coming up on May
7, visit https://www.texmed.org/FirstTuesdays/. For local discussion on these and other legislative
advocacy topics, consider joining the BCMS Legislative and Socioeconomics
Committee by contacting Mary Nava, chief government affairs officer, at mary.nava@bcms.org. |
||||||
|
Simply bring any unwanted medicines along
with other household hazardous waste items to the City of San Antonio's
mobile collection events. Medications will be accepted at no charge, and
disposed of in a safe, legal way – keeping these drugs off our streets and
out of the environment. Since the program's inception in 2009, 51,534
pounds have been collected. May 11, 2019 |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
Thank you to our BCMS Circle of
Friends sponsors! Donations from Circle of Friends
sponsors help keep down the cost of dues and allow BCMS to continue to provide quality
service to its members. The society continues its pledge to
you and only will involve itself in services and programs that benefit
you, the member, and your patients. |
||||||
|
Bexar County Medical Society 4334 N Loop 1604 W., Suite
200 San Antonio, TX 78249 210-301-4391 |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
About The Weekly Dose The
Weekly Dose is a service of the Bexar County Medical Society. Some of
the suggestions conveyed may not be applicable to your practice today, but the
goal is to offer information over time that returns value in
excess of the cost of your membership. If you
would like to recommend future topics to share with your colleagues, please
submit them to the BCMS Executive Director at steve.fitzer@bcms.org. All
rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited. Copyright
© 2018 Bexar County Medical Society, San Antonio, Texas. All
rights reserved. |
||||||
