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"Red Flags" Rule Enforcement
Date - Extended Again
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By John Early, MD
President, Texas Orthopaedic Association
The
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delayed the
enforcement date of the "red flags" rule until June
1, 2010. Originally scheduled for Nov. 1, 2008, the
enforcement of this rule which requires certain
businesses to develop identity theft prevention and
detection programs has been extended three times.
Medical groups continue to make the case to the FTC
and Congress that physicians are not "creditors" and
should not be
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subject to the rule. |
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Featured Legislator:
Representative Kevin Brady (8th District)
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By David Teuscher
TOA Legislative Committee Chair
Your Texas Orthopaedic leadership
delegation participated in Capitol Hill visits during the NOLC 2009
(National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference) hosted by the American
Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons on April 30, 2009. During this
historic year when healthcare reform is being debated, it was
critical for your TOA leaders to carry |
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your message to Congress. Most of the Texas Congressmen met with our
orthopaedic delegation in person, sometimes for extended periods of
time. We want to thank each legislator and their staff for spending
time
with us in an effort to
make sure we get reforms right for our
patients and our practices.
Healthcare coverage of all Americans is
important, but access to care is essential. Representative Brady
sits on the House Ways & Means Committee which has the primary
responsibility of developing legislation for healthcare reform. His
subcommittee on health will offer legislation to the Ways and Means
Committee for consideration by the whole House. Representative
Brady, a seventh term Republican, has worked with members of both
sides of the aisles over the last fourteen years and clearly
understands physician issues and the challenges to physicians posed
by federal and private health care programs. Representative Brady's
district includes Conroe, Orange, Huntsville and The Woodlands.
Click
here to obtain his contact information. |
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This Week In Texas: Mignon
McGarry's Memos
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By Mignon McGarry
TOA Legislative Advocate
TOA Online Version: All Memos
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Another Election Day has come and
gone. Here in Texas, all 11 constitutional amendments on
the ballot passed with each proposition garnering at least 55 percent of
the vote. In Houston, there will be a |
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runoff on
December 12 in the mayoral race between City Controller Annise Parker and former City Attorney Gene Locke.
Houston hair care executive
Farouk Shami announced that he is running for governor as a
Democrat and has pledged that he'll put in $10 million of
his money in that primary race.
Republican Paul Workman announced
his candidacy for House District 47, a seat currently held
by Rep. Valinda Bolton
(D-Austin).
El Paso
developer Jay Kleberg announced that he will run in the
Republican primary for House District 78, a district
currently represented by
Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso).
Despite an earlier announcement
that he would run, former Tyler Mayor Joey Seeber says he
will not oppose Rep. Leo
Berman (R-Tyler) in the 2010 Republican primary.
Former state representative
Arlene Wohlgemuth will join the Texas Public Policy
Foundation's permanent staff on January 1, 2010, in the
newly created role of executive director.
There is a new
website (click
here)
in town for you political news junkies out there. Texas
Tribune describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan public
media organization whose mission is to promote civic
engagement and discourse on public policy, politics,
government, and other matters of statewide concern. |
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AAOS BOC Meeting
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By Andrew Kant, MD
Socioeconomic Committee Chair and AAOS Councilor
WHAT A MEETING! Six Board of Councilor members from
Texas spent three days on orthopedic management
problems, health information technology problems and
government advocacy problems. Texas's own David
Teuscher, as the AAOS BOC Secretary, directed much
of the meeting. In regards to health information
technology and EMR, the |
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equipment will have to be "certified, exchange
information with other systems, and will have to
include quality measures." It will be "no
outcomes…no incomes" so we need to always keep
outcomes in mind to be reimbursed.
Medicare is
going to start in 2011 reimbursing physicians up to
a total of $44,000 for new EMR systems through 2015,
but will start penalizing physicians after 2015. The
rules have not yet been written.
We learned of HB 3596, which is in the House
Judiciary Committee to remove antitrust exemption
from insurance companies. As Dr. Pete Mandell
testified to Congress in October, "simply getting
rid of the antitrust will not be enough to check
these giant monopolies." The States of Hawaii and
Minnesota are in dire straits because they are
having substantial problems with Blue Cross Blue
Shield because they have no competition and
therefore control insurance coverage for almost the
entire population.
There was much discussion on various health reform
measures. On the last day of the meeting, Dr. Ed
Langston, who is Executive Director of AMA, Drs.
Pete Mandell, David Teuscher and AAOS President, Joe
Zuckerman had a lively 45-minute question-and-answer
period with Senator Barrasso regarding what is going
to happen to healthcare and healthcare reform.
Senator Barrasso is a member of the Academy and an
orthopedic surgeon from Wyoming. As an U.S. Senator
and orthopedist, Dr. Barrasso fully understands the
significant problems that orthopedic surgeons have
with the current healthcare reform bills and is
anxious to hear our opinion.
We spent time discussing disruptive innovative
healthcare models with Dr. Wang, and I think you
would find his book very interesting.
The meeting was hot, intense, and intensely
enjoyable.
I would suggest to every orthopedic surgeon in the
State of Texas that "THE CRISIS IS NOW!" and
it is more important than ever to become involved in
the Ortho PAC's. I would recommend that you send
$1000 to the AAOS Orthopedic PAC, $500 to the Texas
Orthopedic PAC, and $300 to TEXPAC of the TMA. The
AAOS PAC, the TOA PAC, and the TMA PAC all are
fighting hard for your rights and your ability to
have a successful practice. Do not delay, time is
of the essence. |
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TOF/TOA Exhibits At The 4th
Annual Southern Obesity Summit
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Representatives from sixteen southern states
(Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North
Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, Virginia, West Virginia) convened in Austin,
TX in October for the 4th Annual Southern Obesity
Summit. The Texas Health Institute hosted this
year's Southern Obesity Summit and participants
included the Michael and Susan Dell Center for
Advancement of Healthy Living, CDC and public health
representatives from across the nation. |
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TOF/TOA
exhibited at the Summit to promote the Get Active!
Texas public health campaign (promoting healthy
bones through regular exercise) as well as to
support the cause of fighting the obesity epidemic.
The latest
data from the CDC shows southern states as the most
obese in the nation. These recent rankings showed
all but one southern state being in the top ten
states with the highest rates of obesity, each
having more than 25% of adults as obese. The
increasingly obese culture is eroding the health of
families and children across the south and the rest
of the U.S.
Obesity
prevention is an uphill battle particularly in the
area of childhood obesity where the statistics for
the negative affect to those children's lives are
staggering. We encourage everyone to get involved in
this issue and help to educate patients, both
children and adults , in your community to Get
Active! and lead healthier lifestyles.
For more information on the Get Active! Texas public
health campaign click
here. |
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Georgetown Orthopaedist Joins
Texas House Race
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TOA
Member Charles Jeffrey Schwertner, MD, of Georgetown
announced he is running for the open seat in Texas
House District 20. Dr. Schwertner is a board
certified orthopaedic surgeon with Georgetown
Orthopedics.
Both Dr. Schwertner and his wife Belinda are UTMB
alumni. Belinda Schwertner MD, is an OB-GYN
specialist also practicing in Georgetown. |
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All
the specialty society lobbyists and executive
directors were invited to a "meet and greet" for Dr.
Schwertner which was coordinated by Mignon McGarry,
TOA Legislative Advocate. Mignon planned a full day
for him to meet people in Austin who could help with
his campaign and support his election to the House
of Representatives.
Please watch for more information from the Texas
Orthopaedic Political Action Committee (toapac.org)
and from Dr. Schwertner's campaign headquarters. His
official news release is
here (PDF). |
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