Advocates Rally to Retain State Health Funds
Hundreds of people rallied at the Capitol today to urge lawmakers to maintain state spending on Medicaid and CHIP, the health care programs for children, the disabled and the very poor. Full Story
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![Community home care advocates for children rally on the South steps of the Capitol against budget cuts]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Study Ranks Texas Counties by Health
Williamson County is home to Texas' healthiest residents, and Marion County is the least healthy in the state, according to the annual County Health Rankings. Full Story
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Zerwas: Texas Health Insurance Exchange May Be Dead
State Rep. John Zerwas, the Simonton Republican who has filed legislation to implement one of the key elements of federal health care reform, said his bill may be permanently stuck. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Health Payment Reform Bills Get Warm Reception
Two sweeping bills to reward patient outcomes — as opposed to the current system that incentivizes overutilization — got a warm welcome in a Senate committee hearing this morning. Full Story
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![Sen. Jane Nelson and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst introduce legislation designed to improve Texas health care.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Texas Hospitals: Budget Cuts Are Too Deep
Texas hospital officials, anticipating a House budget vote later this week, warned this morning that the current proposal could mean funding cuts of up to 37 percent for some hospitals. Full Story
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![Leaders from Texas Hospital Association and other hospital groups urge members of the Texas House to protect funding for local hospitals, doctors and nurses. March 29th, 2011]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Cost of Procedures Varies Widely by Hospital, Area
The cost of common medical procedures paid for by Medicaid varies dramatically from hospital to hospital and region to region, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of claims by and payments to hundreds of hospitals across the state. Full Story
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TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont's school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson's Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD's missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story
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Leo Linbeck III: The TT Interview
The Houston builder and Health Care Compact Alliance vice chair on how an interstate compact could fix health care in Texas — and give the state some semblance of local control over what he calls an unsustainable health care system. Full Story
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![Leo Linbeck III, Houston builder and vice chair of the national Health Care Compact Alliance.]()
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Committee Votes to Restore $4.5 Billion for Health Services
Deliberation about what to cut — and whom to save — ended with a vote to restore $4.5 billion to state health agencies at a Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing this morning. The issue now goes to the full Senate Finance Committee. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Activists Rally for Home Health Care
Health care providers who treat profoundly disabled children at home face major budget cuts this session — cuts they say would devastate their industry and cost the state more in the long run. Full Story
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![Community home care advocates for children rally on the
South steps of the Capitol against budget cuts]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera -
Senate Approves Incentive for Out-of-State Doctors
The Senate passed a bill today that would streamline the process of obtaining a medical license in Texas for out-of-state doctors. Full Story
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Lawmakers Push for Changes to Hospital Hiring Law
Lawmakers today heard heated testimony on a number of bills targeting hospitals' ability to hire physicians. Full Story
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Lawmakers Target Federal Health Reform
Federal health care reform was the clear antagonist at today’s meeting of the House Select Committee on State Sovereignty. Republican lawmakers laid out a dozen bills aimed at getting the federal government out of Texas' health care system. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Marjorie Cotera/Bob Daemmrich/Todd Wiseman -
Rural Hospitals Hope to Change Hiring Law
A Texas law dating back to the 1800s that keeps hospitals from directly hiring doctors comes before lawmakers today, in a flurry of bills designed to remove the ban — either for an individual hospital district, or for all the state's rural hospitals. Full Story
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New Day Rising: The Changing Public Policy Landscape
At the Tribune's New Day Rising symposium on Feb. 28, four public policy experts talked about criminal justice, education, health care and other issues and the impact of the coming Hispanic majority. Full Story
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Proposal Pits Primary Care Against Specialties
A controversial budget proposal would concentrate the money the state spends on graduate medical residencies into the doctors’ first three years of training — regardless of how long their residencies take to complete. Full Story
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Fighting the Fear That Saving a Life Means Losing Your Soul
With the number of Hispanics in Texas continuing to swell, the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance is embarking on a campaign to change cultural and religious resistance to organ donation. Full Story
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![Gloria Garza, who had a liver transplant in 2009 at the University Transplant Center in San Antonio, stands with her husband, George, at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg on March 2.]()
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Mapping Where Federal Hospital Dollars Go
State health officials hope they've reached a breakthrough in their effort to achieve two goals: expanding Medicaid managed care, and keeping a combined $1 billion in federal health care dollars flowing into Texas hospitals every year. Full Story
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Guy Clifton: The TT Interview
The Houston neurosurgeon, author and frequent health care adviser to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on his support for the individual insurance mandate, why cutting provider rates to rescue the budget is misguided and how far Texas would trim Medicaid if given the permission. Full Story
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Lawmakers Want State, Not Federal, Insurance Connector
State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, is no fan of "Obamacare." But he told his House colleages this afternoon that if they don't set up a health insurance exchange — one of the tenets of reform — by 2014, the federal government will do it for them. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman