Medical Journal April 2021 Digital Edition
April 19, 20211 min
Post Views: 3,194
By Allison Shelton and Beth Anne Jackson, Brown & Fortunato, P.C. Physician supervision of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) was the topic of a recent opinion from the Texas Attorney General (AG). In Opinion No. KP-0353, AG Ken Paxton addressed whether the Texas Medical Practice Act requires a physician to supervise a CRNA to whom the physician delegated the administration of anesthesia. The Texas Medical Practice Act governs the practice and license of physicians and...
New plans for profit in 2021
April 19, 20218 min
By Catherine Lightfoot, CPA, CHBC, Director of Healthcare at EEPB There are three key factors that will affect profit margins: increase revenue, reduce expenses and mitigate risk. The last is not often thought of as a revenue enhancer, but without it, all improvements could be lost. Accountants have always advised the best strategy for improving cash flow is to review what has worked well historically, and then look at what could be improved upon. But...
Texas “Snowmageddon”: Health care employers and their workers try to cope
April 19, 202110 min
By Stephen Roppolo, Regional Managing Partner, Fisher Phillips As if the August heat in Texas is not enough, many Texans had to endure the rare weather event of significant snowfall and, even worse, extended periods in which temperatures dipped far below freezing in February. This wasn’t just an inconvenience; hundreds of thousands of Texans were without power for days, enduring freezing temperatures inside their homes. Texas’ go-it-alone power grid was not ready for the...
Integrative approaches to COVID-19
April 19, 20219 min
By Sagar Kamprath, MD, Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, UTMB Stress runs deep in today’s pandemic-driven society adds fuel to the cycle of increasing inflammation and worsening immune function. Managing inflammation and optimizing the immune system is the underlying message in most illnesses with the current pandemic being no exception. However, through nutrition, supplementation, and breathing we may augment our immune system and give our bodies the tools it needs to stay sharp and fight...
Support coverage expansion amid new health care plan
April 19, 20218 min
By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association For the first time in years, Republican and Democratic state lawmakers are united in supporting legislation to expand health care coverage in Texas. Senate Bill 117/House Bill 3871, known as the Live Well Texas Plan, is the first promising package to expand health care coverage in Texas that the legislature has seen in nearly a decade. The plan boasts strong bipartisan support and provides a path...
New study looks at long-term outcomes and costs of high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer treatment
April 19, 20214 min
A new research study leveraging a database from the largest equal access health system in the US, the Department of Veteran Affairs, offers insight into the outcome of specific treatment patterns for advanced bladder cancer patients. Lead author Dr. Stephen Williams of the University of Texas Medical Branch says it is one of the first comprehensive studies looking at both the outcomes and the costs of treating a potentially lethal and devastating type of bladder...
By analyzing tumors from more than 2,600 patients and from 38 cancer types, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and fellow member institutions of the international Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium have characterized the extensive genetic diversity across cancer and within individual tumors. The study found that 95% of the analyzed tumors had at least one subclone or genetically distinct group of tumor cells, and these subclones were often very diverse — even...
Houston refines hunt for COVID in wastewater
April 19, 20216 min
There are many ways to test municipal wastewater for signs of the virus that causes COVID-19, but scientists in Houston have determined theirs is the best yet. A study led by environmental engineer Lauren Stadler of Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering with the aid of the City of Houston Health Department and Baylor College of Medicine compared five processes used by labs around the country to concentrate samples and find the virus in wastewater from six Houston plants....