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Men's Basketball - UT vs. OU - January 15 Medicare Meltdown - Temporary Freeze to December 31 Will You Participate in Medicare Next Year? Electronic Death Registration Required TMB Drops Death Certificate Fines PAHCOM - Professional Association for Office Staff Tip of the Month - Looking for a Year End Bonus? Help a UT Student with Research
This new version allows registered TCMS DocBookMD physicians to communicate securely with full HIPAA compliance with each other.
DocBookMD 3.0 enhancements: and medical record number
DocBookMD.com website enhancements:
If you currently have DocBookMD, just update the app from the App store – no need to delete the app before updating.
For questions or assistance with the new version, contact Beth Brown-Nutting at (512) 810-9113 or beth@docbookmd.com.
TCMS members can download – for free – the DocBookMD app to their iPhone, iTouch, or iPad. Texas Medical Liability Trust, a loyal supporter of Texas physicians, and organized medicine has partnered with TCMS and DocBook to provide this application at no cost to TCMS members.
DocBookMD was designed by physicians for physicians as a flexible, efficient, and easy-to-use communication tool that allows a TCMS member to search for another member and then text, call, or e-mail them with just one touch. There’s even a look up feature for pharmacies.
TCMS DocBookMD provides HIPAA compliant messaging, is secured through the highest levels of encryption and verification, and may be activated only by TCMS members with a unique access number provided by the Society.
For your access number and download instructions, contact the Society at 206-1252 or shinojosa@tcms.com.
For more information about DocBookMD, visit www.docbookmd.com.
To learn more about Texas Medical Liability Trust, visit www.tmlt.org.
TCMS has reserved a block of seats for the UT vs. OU men's basketball game, slated for 3:00 pm on Saturday, January 15, 2011 at the Frank Erwin Center. Tickets are $6 and must be picked up from the Medical Society by January 10, 2011.
To purchase tickets contact the Society at (512) 206-1270. Ten ticket limit per physician.
Medicare physician payment cuts were temporarily stopped by the US House of Representatives today. Both the Senate and House have now approved a one-month delay in the cuts. Additional legislation is still needed to stop the 25% physician payment cut scheduled for January 1, 2011. Stay tuned...
You must decide your 2011 level of participation in Medicare by December 31, even if Congress fails to stop the pending cuts. TMA cannot tell you what to do, but does offer some help in making a decision through a recorded seminar, "Evaluating Your Medicare Options," on the TMA website. The one-hour webinar, featuring TMA's in-house Medicare specialists, provides detailed information about participation options and the consequences of those choices.
Physicians must submit all cause-of-death information and medical certifications to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) electronically through the state’s online death registration system, the Texas Electronic Registrar (TER) at www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/requestTER/default.asp.
However, the system, required by the legislature, has had some problems. DSHS spokesperson Christine Mann said about 70 percent of the death certificates in Texas are being filed electronically. She said issuing user names and passwords to physicians takes time because DSHS staff must go through a lengthy process to verify the information a physician submits when he or she registers with the system.
Physicians already fined by the Texas Medical Board (TMB) for not filing death certificates electronically will get their money back, and pending cases will be dismissed because of physicians’ problems with the state’s registration system.
TMB was fining physicians $500 for not complying with a 2007 state law that requires all physicians who sign death certificates to register in the Texas Electronic Registrar (TER) Death Registration system, maintained by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Vital Statistics Unit. Some 150 physicians were facing TMB discipline.
“We are refunding the fines that we levied so far and are dropping the pending cases and not pursuing action on those,” said TMB spokesperson Leigh Hopper. In early October, Sens. Robert Deuell, MD (R-Greenville), and Jane Nelson (R-Lewisville) asked TMB to delay disciplining physicians for not using the system. Ms. Hopper says the board responded by deciding to not take any action until the end of the 2011 session of the Texas Legislature. She said TMB’s decision against fining physicians came “because of the problems that we’re hearing in terms of registering and the delays in getting their passwords.”
The “White Coat Invasion” has been the key to physicians’ successes in the Texas Legislature since the inception of First Tuesdays at the Capitol in 2003. Our senators and representatives listen when their hometown doctors show up in their offices en masse.
The 2011 session of the Texas Legislature will be a tough one for medicine. It is absolutely essential for medicine to engage its representatives and senators early and often. The theme for the 2011 session is “Caring for Patients in a Time of Change.”
It’s time again to bring out Texas medicine’s strongest weapon in the 2011 Legislative Session. Be a medical lobbyist for a day. You will make a difference. To register for First Tuesdays, visit www.texmed.org/firsttuesdays. For questions, contact Stephanie Triggs at (512) 206-1124 or striggs@tcms.com.
The Travis County Chapter of the Professional Association of Health Care Office Management (PAHCOM) is an organization benefitting the medical community through educational networking of member office staff. PAHCOM invites physician office staff to attend a meeting: 11:30 am to 1:00 pm on the third Wednesday of each month at Seton Medical Center, 1201 W. 38th Street, McFadden Auditorium.
Programs are designed for office managers and other staff to obtain helpful information used on a daily basis in running a physician office. Networking with other office managers and corporate sponsors rounds out the meeting each month.
To become a member contact Maria Harvey at (512) 381-1592 or lharvey@austinent.com.
The following physicians have applied for TCMS membership. Under the provisions of the bylaws, names of applicants are presented to the membership for review. Written objections to the applicant’s membership must be directed to the TCMS Board of Ethics within 30 days of publication.
Click here for New Member Applicants
Does your office have unclaimed money you don’t know about? Unclaimed property can be any financial asset that appears to have been abandoned by the owner for more than one year. Many physicians have insurance reimbursements in these funds. Some were addressed to a business but the name was abbreviated. After searching for your name, search for your business name using multiple abbreviations such as Aus for Austin, or Cap for Capitol. Other examples of property that can become abandoned are: dividends, payroll, and cashier’s checks; stocks, mutual fund accounts, and bonds; utility deposits and other refunds; bank accounts and safe deposit box contents; and insurance proceeds.
Find unclaimed property in Texas by visiting the Claim It Texas site www.cpa.state.tx.us/up/.
Come meet Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) at Central Market Cafe, 38th Street location, on Wednesday evening, January 19, 2011, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Come and relax, buy a drink in the cafe, and talk with Austin PSR physicians about your work, about PSR, and about how those two topics intersect! See you there.
Spanish Meducation® is the practical medical Spanish program offered through the Travis County Medical Society since 1994. The 10-week program (meeting once a week) is designed for all health care professionals: physicians, pharmacists, nurses, therapists, social workers, technicians, emergency personnel, and their support staff.
The classes develop beginning, intermediate, and advanced conversational skills in general Spanish with a concentration on health care situations. Grammar takes a back seat. All handouts are included in the tuition cost; no textbook is required. Free booster make-up lessons are provided for level I absences. To take advantage of our early registration discount of $20, enroll by January 7: $230 for new students and $210 for continuing students. After January 7, the tuition will be $250 and $230. If you are a true beginner, level I is for you, otherwise contact the Program Director, Jill Snyder at (512) 835-7612 to discuss which level class will best match your current Spanish language skills.
Level I - Beginner: Mon. Jan. 31 - April 11
All classes meet once a week from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Travis County Medical Society: 4300 N. Lamar.
For questions and forms, please contact Program Director, Jill Snyder, PhD at jld@io.com or (512) 835-7612.
A daytime beginner “brown bag” class is being considered for Wednesdays, Feb 2 - April 13 from noon - 2:00 pm at 2100 Northland Drive. Contact Dr. Snyder for more information.
Come meet Austin Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) at Central Market Cafe, 38th Street location, on Wednesday evening, January 19, 2011, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. Come and relax, buy a drink in the cafe, and talk with Austin PSR physicians about your work, about PSR, and about how those two topics intersect! See you there.
A McCombs School of Business undergraduate student is conducting research on the willingness of participants to adopt personal health care applications on their mobile phones. Physicians and office staff are invited to participate. Click here to take the quick 10-minute survey.
4300 N Lamar, PO Box 4679, Austin, Texas 78765 (512) 206-1249
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