Scope of Practice

AMA Board Chair Calls on Texas to Help Secure Medicare Fix, Restore Physician Autonomy - 12/04/2024

Attendees of Texas Medical Association’s second Business of Medicine Conference heard a host of economic hurdles to physicians, but underscoring them all is the decades-long trend of decreasing Medicare physician payment, according to the American Medical Association’s Board of Trustees Chair Michael Suk, MD.

AMA President-Elect Acclaims TMA Advocacy for Scope, Prior Auth Wins - 12/04/2024

Texas physicians’ advocacy accomplishments both in the state and alongside the American Medical Association earned praise from AMA’s president-elect at the Texas Medical Association’s Leadership Summit on Jan. 27.

Senate Committee Tackles Scope of Practice in Access-to-Care Hearing - 11/18/2024

In a hearing packed with representatives from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, behavioral health, licensing boards, and academia, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee tackled Texas’ health care workforce shortages with the Texas Medical Association delivering its message loud and clear: Expanding scope of practice is not the answer to helping patients in rural and underserved areas.

Removing Texas Physicians From the Health Care Team Would be Harmful, Costly - 05/04/2023

Op-ed by Texas Medical Association (TMA) President Gary W. Floyd, MD, and Board of Trustees Chair G. Ray Callas, MD, about legislation proposing to give advanced practice registered nurses and other providers independent practice authority without physician supervision.

Commentary: Hey Texas, Time to Stop Using the Word Provider! - 08/02/2021

The growing unwillingness to highlight the differences in training, education, and expertise between physicians and other health care professionals constitutes an increasing danger to not only our profession but also to patients, our health care system, and society as a whole. Patients deserve to know who is rendering their care. It is our hope that every physician reading this article will think and act in some way to speak up against the “provider” label and help reclaim the rightful title. Our profession is thousands of years old, so let’s not be the generation that destroys its own name. For the sake of those who follow in our footsteps, let’s take a stand together today.

Some Clarity, Some Fog: AG Opines on Physician-Optometrist Relationship - 07/01/2020

An opinion by the Texas attorney general will keep the Texas Optometry Board (TOB) from exerting influence over the practice of medicine – to a certain point.

TMA to Trump: Do Not Expand NPPs’ Scope of Practice - 02/12/2020

When President Donald Trump released an executive order earlier this month that would, in part, expand the scope of practice of nonphysician practitioners, the Texas Medical Association vowed to keep physicians at the head of the health care team. On Monday, TMA President David Fleeger, MD, took a major step to do that, urging President Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar to remove that language entirely.

Physicians Must Lead Care Teams, Medicine Tells Feds - 01/24/2020

The Texas Medical Association, and 99 other medical societies, are making it clear to Medicare that physicians are the nation’s most highly trained health care professionals – and the government shouldn’t weaken or eliminate their supervision of nonphysicians.

TMA Says “No” to Federal Scope Expansion Under President’s Medicare Executive Order - 01/23/2020

At least one piece of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on Medicare will meet strong opposition from the Texas Medical Association. “Know this: TMA will stand up for our profession and our patients to prevent this totally unwarranted scope-of-practice expansion from becoming reality,” said TMA President David C. Fleeger, MD.

CRNAs Can’t Administer Anesthesia Unless Physician Delegates It, AG Rules - 09/12/2019

The state attorney general has agreed with the Texas Medical Association in an official opinion that keeps certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) from administering anesthesia without physician delegation.

Scope of Practice: Shot Down - 08/02/2019

When it comes to shooting down dangerous attempts to expand non-medical practitioners’ scope of practice, TMA’s advocacy army once again proved to be expert marksmen in 2019. Medicine trained its scope on bills that would have allowed nurse practitioners, chiropractors, and optometrists, among others, to wade into the practice of medicine.

Prohibit Chiropractors From Practicing Neurology - 04/29/2019

The current statutory definition of chiropractic references its focus on the musculoskeletal system. SB 1867 would add “neuro” to its definition. We find this an unwarranted expansion, contrary to patient health care, and unsupported by chiropractors’ education and training.

Chiropractors Are NOT Neurologists – Don’t Expand Their Scope - 04/03/2019

Simply alleging that the basis of this proposal is the impossibility of treating conditions related to the “musculoskeletal” system without a neurological connection is misleading, oversimplified, and potentially dangerous. Adding the term “neuro” is not merely the addition of the nerves that may connect muscle tissue or bones. It is the addition of the entire neurological system that includes the brain, the spinal cord, and the regulation of many bodily functions – all well beyond chiropractors’ education and training.

Stop APRN Scope Expansion - 04/03/2019

Medical school was a very humbling experience as I learned the depth of what I did not know as a nurse practitioner. Many times I realized I had inadvertently provided improper treatment for a patient simply out of ignorance. I came to realize, for example, the reason I struggled to understand how to interpret lab data as a nurse practitioner was that I hadn’t gained the in-depth knowledge of normal physiology and abnormal pathophysiology required to understand the “why” behind the lab tests.

Pharmacy Board Nixes Proposal That Could’ve Broadened Pharmacists’ Scope - 03/14/2019

Medicine’s objections were strong, and the state’s draft rules allowing pharmacists to perform medication therapy management services aren’t going to make it after all.

Keep Team-Care Model; Do Not Grant APRNs Autonomy - 03/21/2018

This opinion column (op-ed) by Don R. Read, MD, president of the Texas Medical Association (TMA), expresses concerns over efforts by some nursing groups to attain independent practice authority rather than working collaboratively with Texas physicians. The concept is proposed in House Bill 1415 by Rep. Stephanie Klick and Senate Bill 681 by Sen. Kelly Hancock, both of Fort Worth.