► REGULATORY UPDATES:
♦
Texas Veterans Portal & Military Service
Members/Veterans & Military
Spouses Information.
Visit the
Board's
"Veterans"
webpage to obtain additional
information for Texas Veterans & Military Service
Members/Veterans & Military
Spouses.
♦
Prescriptions/Controlled
Substances Information.
Visit the Board's
"Prescription
Information"
webpage to obtain additional
information on changes to the Texas
Prescription Program, Ordering
Controlled Substances
Prescription Pads, Registering
for the New Prescription Drug
Monitoring Program Database, Abuse/Misuse
of Prescriptions/Pain
Medications & Drug Diversion
Prevention, Prescribing
Compounded Medications & Health
Care Fraud, Controlled
Substances Schedule Changes and all other
information related to
Prescriptions/Controlled
Substances.
♦
DPS & FBI Fingerprint Criminal
History Background Check
Information.
Visit the Board's
"Criminal
History/Getting Fingerprinted"
webpage to obtain Criminal
History Record Information -
Policies & Consequences of
Criminal Conviction -
Information.
♦
Scope of Practice & Additional
Regulatory Information. Visit the
Board's
"Questions &
Answers"
webpage
for scope of practice and
additional regulatory information.
♦
Report Suspected "Medicare /
Medicaid Fraud, Waste & Abuse".
Health Care Fraud is a nationwide problem of theft from public
(Medicare/Medicaid; taxpayer funded) and private health care
systems. 1)
Call toll free
1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477); 2) This service is a product of the
United States Department of
Health & Human Services - Office of Inspector General;
3) Related Healthcare Fraud topics can be found
HERE on the
Board's "Questions & Answers" webpage. (Review Q&A #6; #20 & #28)
♦
Student Loan Default
Information. Please
click on the highlighted link to obtain
(state/federal)
"Student
Loan Default" information. Licensees
must meet and pay all Student Loan
obligations; failure to do so will result in
investigation/disciplinary action of your
license.
♦
Child Support
Default/Delinquency Information. Please
click on the highlighted link to obtain
"Child
Support Default/Delinquency" information.
Licensees
must meet and pay all Child Support
obligations; failure to do so will result in
investigation/disciplinary action of your
license.
♦ HIPAA - General
Information. Click here to view Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS)
"HIPAA-General Information."
♦
Texas Medical Records Privacy
Act (HB300 - 82nd; TXHSC Ch.
181). The Texas Medical Records Privacy Act, found
in chapter 181 of the Texas Health and Safety Code was
significantly amended in 2011
by passage of HB 300, effective September 1, 2012.
The Office of the Attorney General's - Consumer Protection
Division (OAG-CPD)
formulates additional information for licensing agencies to
implement HB 300. Citizens may
also file a complaint with the OAG-CPD relating to Medical
Records Privacy matters by clicking
HERE.
General Training Opportunities:
The Office of the
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (ONC)
Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO) has released its
first web-based security training module, "CyberSecure: Your
Medical Practice." The security training module, which was
developed with the assistance of the Regional Extension Center
Program’s Privacy and Security Community of Practice, uses a
game format that requires users to respond to privacy and
security challenges often faced in a typical small medical
practice. Users choosing the right response earn points and see
their virtual medical practices flourish. But users making the
wrong security decisions can hurt their virtual practices. The
use of gamification by ONC is an innovative approach aimed at
educating health care providers to make more informed decisions
regarding privacy and security of health information.
http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/privacy-security-training-games
♦ Disclosure &
Consent Forms - Texas Medical
Disclosure Panel.
Board
Rule §375.19 “Fees and Informed
Consent” provides that: “(a) The
podiatric physician has special
knowledge which his patient does
not have; therefore, to avoid
misunderstanding he should
advise his patient in advance of
beginning treatment of the
nature and extent of the
treatment needed; the
approximate time required to
perform the recommended
treatment and services; and any
further or additional services
or return by the patient for
treatment, adjustments, or
consultation and the time in
which this shall occur. A
podiatric physician should
inform his patients as to the
fees to be charged for services
before the services are
performed, regardless of whether
the fees are charged on a case
basis, on the basis of a
separate charge for each
service, or a combination of
these two methods, or some other
basis. If an exact fee for a
particular service, as in
extended care cases, cannot be
quoted to a patient, a fair and
reasonable estimate of what the
fee will be and the basis on
which it will be determined
should be given the patient. (b)
A podiatric physician shall not
tender or receive a commission
for a referral.”
The Texas Medical
Disclosure Panel publishes
Rules and Forms related to "Informed Consent" under
Title 25; Part 7; Chapter 601
of the Texas Administrative
Code. Please click on the link
for more information.
♦
Sunset Review Announcement ←
Effective May 4, 2016, the mission and performance of the Texas
State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners are under review by
the Legislature as required under the Texas Sunset Act. The Act
provides that the Sunset Commission, composed of legislators and
public members, periodically evaluate a state agency to
determine if the agency is still needed and to explore ways to
ensure that the agency's funds are well spent. Based on the
recommendations of the Sunset Commission, the Texas Legislature
ultimately decides whether an agency continues to operate into
the future.
♦ Fluoroscopically-Guided Interventional
(FGI) Mandatory Safety Awareness Training.
Effective May 1, 2013, the Texas Department of
State Health Services - Radiation Control
Program (DSHS-RCP) is requiring all
practitioners who utilize
Fluoroscopically-Guided Interventional (FGI)
procedures to
complete mandatory Radiation Safety
Awareness Training by May 1, 2015.
Only Board Certified Radiologists & Radiation
Oncologists (MD/DO) are exempted from the
mandatory training given their radiation safety
training as part of their education. This
mandatory Radiation Safety Awareness Training is
a one-time requirement and entails an 8-Hour
Category 1 CME course as well as completion of
1-Hour of "hands-on" training by a Radiologist,
Licensed Medical Physicist or a Physician
(MD/DO) who has completed the mandatory
training.
[DSHS-RCP Rule 25 Texas Administrative Code;
Part 1; Chapter 289; Subchapter E;
§289.227(m)(9)(E).] •
DSHS-RCP Rule 25 Texas Administrative Code; Part
1; Chapter 289; Subchapter E; §289.227(e)(36)
“Use of Radiation Machines in the Healing Arts”
– “Definitions”
provides that: “Fluoroscopically-Guided
Interventional (FGI) Procedures -- An
interventional diagnostic or therapeutic
procedure performed via percutaneous or other
access routes, usually with local anesthesia or
intravenous sedation, which uses external
ionizing radiation in the form of fluoroscopy to
localize or characterize a lesion, diagnostic
site, or treatment site, to monitor the
procedure, and to control and document therapy.
FGI procedures may include but not be limited
to: (A) TIPS creation (transjugular intrahepatic
portosystemic shunt); (B) Embolization (any
location, any lesion); (C) Stroke therapy; (D)
Biliary drainage; (E) Angioplasty with or
without stent placement; (F) Stent-graft
placement; (G) Chemoembolization; (H)
Angiography and intervention for
gastrointestinal hemorrhage; (I) Carotid stent
placement; (J) RF (radiofrequency) cardiac
ablation; (K) Complex placement of cardiac EP
(electrophysiology) devices; and (L) PCI (percutaneous
coronary intervention) (single or multiple
vessel).” DSHS-RCP has advised most fluoroscopic
procedures fall under the definition of FGI. To
determine if you utilize FGI, one helpful
exercise is to break the definition of FGI down
into segments and determine if the procedures
you perform include any part of the definition.
If so, then you are doing an FGI procedure and
are required to complete the mandatory DSHS-RCP
Radiation Safety Awareness Training. Texas
Podiatrists utilizing FGI are required to
complete this mandatory DSHS-RCP Radiation
Safety Training and will receive 100% TSBPME CME
credit.
UPDATE. [Posted 01/14/2015 @ 4:46 PM]
DSHS-RCP has delayed
the implementation of the Radiation Safety
Awareness Training indefinitely. Click
HERE for more information.
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