The latest Department of State Health Services news from The Texas Tribune.
More than 16,000 children are in foster care in Texas. And when those children become adults, they’re often left to fend for themselves. But as Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports, the amount of help available to foster children in Travis County is on the rise. Full Story
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In the state's largest-ever Medicaid fraud recovery, Johnson & Johnson agreed Thursday to pay Texas $158 million to settle a lawsuit over its efforts to get the schizophrenia drug Risperdal on an approved list for the state's poorest patients. Full Story
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Disability rights advocates gathered at Gov. Rick Perry's campaign headquarters today to demand a meeting with the governor to discuss improving care and living conditions for disabled Texans. Full Story
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The Texas Department of State Health Services has released a much-reduced list of organizations that will receive state dollars to provide birth control, STD testing and cervical and breast cancer screenings for the state's poorest women. Full Story
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Texas lawmakers and hospital administrators took a hard look Tuesday at the state Medicaid waiver recently OK'd by the Obama administration. Full Story
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The federal government has granted Texas permission to move almost all of its Medicaid patients into managed care in an effort to save money. But as Carrie Feibel of KUHF News reports, hospitals will now have to do more to show how they spend — and prove they deserve — state money. Full Story
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The Tribune's Thanh Tan speaks with a Texan living with anxiety and depression, the executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at UT-Austin, and the head psychiatrist for Austin Travis County Integral Care to find out the reasons behind the state's shortage of mental health providers. Full Story
While more Texans are being diagnosed with mental illness every year, experts say there aren't enough psychiatrists or behavioral health professionals to meet growing demand. Use our video and interactive county-by-county maps to find out why. Full Story
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The federal government's rejection this week of a state request to exclude certain providers — namely Planned Parenthood — from the Women's Health Program came as a victory to some family planning advocates, and a travesty to others. Full Story
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has turned down Texas’ request to run a family planning program that excludes some providers — namely Planned Parenthood. But it approved Texas' request for a waiver to expand Medicaid managed care. Full Story
Texas Democrats say the state Department of Insurance's request for a delay in implementing federal health reform rules could cost Texans $260 million in premium credits and rebates over the next three years. Full Story
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Fewer Texans will receive food stamps in December than in November, but the number is still up overall since 2005 as the national recession continues. Our updated interactive map allows you to explore the number of food stamp recipients in your county and the economic impact of the program. Full Story
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Children in foster care are several times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic drugs, according to a new Government Accountability Office report on five states. As Matt Largey of KUT News reports, investigators found high rates of potentially risky practices in Texas. Full Story
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Hoping to get more effective cancer drugs into the hands of patients, state leaders this morning announced the creation of a new cancer research institute in Houston. Full Story
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Thousands of Texas doctors, researchers and medical experts — including more than 100 who are employed by the state and are paid with taxpayer dollars — routinely supplement their salaries with income from pharmaceutical companies. Full Story
The number of Texans receiving food aid has increased by nearly 1.4 million in the last four years. Use this interactive to see the percentage of each county's population that receives food assistance and the economic impact of the federal funds. Full Story
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Hispanics in South Texas suffer from liver cancer at twice the rate of the rest of the nation, and as Eileen Pace of Texas Public Radio reports, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has awarded scientists $2 million to find out why. Full Story
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Since the passage of sweeping medical lawsuit reforms in 2003, liability insurance rates have plummeted, doctors have flocked to our state in record numbers and nursing homes and hospitals are again operational. That's good for patients — and good for Texas. Full Story
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The sweeping medical lawsuit reforms of 2003 had two demonstrable effects: Doctors, hospitals and malpractice insurers got richer; and many contingent fee lawyers were put out of business. Which was exactly what proponents of the reforms wanted. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry and his staff repeatedly downplayed the severity of abuse and neglect allegations at Texas’ state-run institutions for the disabled — until conditions became so dire that federal authorities intervened. Full Story
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