Certifying Hospital Districts to Employ
Physicians |
South Texas Health Care System |
Interagency Work Group on Border Issues |
Improvements to Colonias |
Coordination of Services to Colonia
Residents |
Strategic National Stockpile Resolution
Certifying Hospital Districts to Employ Physicians
HB 1924 by Rep. Norma Chavez (D-El Paso) and Sen. Eliot
Shapleigh (D-El Paso) requires the Texas State Board of Medical
Examiners to certify a hospital district to contract with or employ
physicians for a component of the hospital recognized by the
federal government as a migrant, homeless, or community health
center or federally qualified health center (FQHC). (The language
does not refer to the ability of the hospital to employ a
physician, only to an FQHC or community clinic run by the
facility). Representative Chavez filed the bill at the behest of
the El Paso County hospital district, with support by a number of
local physicians, as a means to reduce the liability of physicians.
FQHC employees have limited liability exposure. TMA opposed the
bill early in the session fearing repercussions to the corporate
practice of medicine prohibition. However, given that many El Paso
physicians supported the bill, compromise language was added
bracketing the bill to El Paso by specifying that the statute
applies only to a health organization in a community of at least
650,000 located in a county along the U.S.- Mexico border. The
statute expires Sept. 1, 2007.
South Texas Health Care System
SB 815 by Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville) and Rep. Jim Solis
(D-Harlingen) outlines a long-range plan for the South Texas Health
Care System, in addition to the provision of tuberculosis and other
health care services in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The bill
requires the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to
contract for the construction of at least one outpatient health
care center, and allows the center(s) to be built in Cameron and
Hidalgo counties; all outpatient health care services must be
transferred to the new facilities. Inpatient health care services
must be contracted out and arranged by DSHS. Displaced employees
shall be transferred to available open positions, or be afforded
job placement assistance.
Interagency Work Group on Border Issues
HB 925 by Representative Chavez and Senator Lucio creates an
interagency work group on border issues and the position of a
border commerce coordinator. The work group shall meet at least
once a year in Austin to discuss border issues, including
inspection, trade, commerce, transportation, investment,
environment, and health, and to provide information on agency
impact on border communities for use in developing border
policy.
Improvements to Colonias
SB 827 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) and Rep. Ryan Guillen
(D-Rio Grande City) requires the secretary of state to establish
and maintain a classification system to track and report on the
progress of state-funded projects to provide water, wastewater, and
paved roads in the colonias. The bill establishes ombudsmen to
collect data for an annual report that will include a list of
colonias with the highest health risks.
Coordination of Services to Colonia Residents
SB 1202 by Senator Lucio and Representative Chavez requires the
colonia initiatives coordinator to work with agencies, local
officials, and colonia resident advisory committees to: 1)
coordinate efforts addressing colonia issues; 2) identify nonprofit
self-help groups to help with colonia initiatives; and 3) set goals
to address easement problems, and water and wastewater connections,
ensuring they are extended from distribution lines to houses
located in colonias.
Strategic National Stockpile Resolution
SCR 2 by Sen. Todd Staples (R-Palestine) and Rep. Leo Berman
(R-Tyler) requests the U.S. Congress to enact legislation to
provide for federal deployment (as opposed to state deployment) of
the Strategic National Stockpile, a repository of pharmaceuticals
and medical supplies administered jointly by the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, within Mexico to protect U.S. border states from acts of
bioterrorism.
Border Health TMA Staff Contacts:
- Gayle Love, Public Health, (512) 370-1670
- Susan Griffin, Public Health, (512) 370-1462
- Audra Bryant, Medical Economics, (512) 370-1356
- Helen Kent Davis, Governmental Affairs, (512) 370-1401
- Yvonne Barton, Legislative Affairs, (512) 370-1359
Overview
|
Tax Reform
|
Scope of Practice
|
Physician Ownership
|
Inadequate Health Plan Networks
(Balanced Billing)
|
Managed Care/Insurance Reform
|
Texas State Board of Medical
Examiners Sunset and Physician Licensure
|
Agency Sunset Review
|
Corporate Practice of Medicine
|
Health Care Funding
|
Medicaid and CHIP
|
Indigent Care and the
Uninsured
|
Workers' Compensation
|
Professional Liability Reform
|
Medical Education/Workforce
|
Child Health, Safety, and
Nutrition/Fitness
|
Public Health
|
Rural Health
|
Mental Health
|
Trauma/EMS
|
Prescription Drugs
|
Medical Science
|
Long-Term Care
|
Abortion
|
Transplantation/Organ Donation
|
Table of Contents