The latest Department of State Health Services news from The Texas Tribune.
For years, the state paid private providers who care for people with disabilities to handle their clients’ case management. But an 11th-hour change inserted into the budget last session stripped them of that responsibility, giving it instead to quasi-governmental Mental Retardation Authorities — and potentially creating a conflict of interest. Full Story
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Ask House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and he'll tell you: The budget he and his fellow finance types will put forward in a few weeks confirms fears that carnage is looming. "We're making huge cuts," he told a Tea Party group last week. Full Story
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The patient privacy advocate on why our electronic medical records are in grave danger, how they could be used to discriminate against us and what Facebook can teach health care professionals about informed consent. Full Story
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A week after newly emboldened Republicans in the Texas Legislature floated a radical cost-saving proposal — withdrawing from the federal Medicaid program — health care experts, economists and think tanks are trying to determine just how possible it would be. The answer? It’s complicated. But it’s not stopping nearly a dozen other states, frantic over budget shortfalls and anticipating new costs from federal health care reform, from exploring something that was, until recently, unthinkable. Full Story
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Whether you call it a wave, a rout or a tsunami, one thing is clear: Republicans in the Texas House won a massive mandate for conservative bills — and budgeting — in the coming legislative session. Full Story
Dr. David Blumenthal, the national coordinator of Health Information Technology, talks about electronic medical records, why it's important for Texas doctors to make the paperless transition and how they can do it while protecting patient privacy and improving care. Full Story
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Callers have flooded the Texas Poison Center this year with reports of chest pains and increased heart rates because of a synthetic drug that mimics marijuana. Some cities are already taking steps to outlaw the substance, and lawmakers will propose a statewide ban in the next legislative session. Full Story
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At the end of the summer, Texas quietly opted to forgo another pot of federal money — specifically, $4.4 million that would have gone toward educating youth on abstinence and contraception to prevent teen pregnancy. Full Story
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The politically powerful hospital was poised to lose millions in Medicaid reimbursements under a hospital funding shuffle — until it reached out to lawmakers with its concerns. Full Story
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A federal magistrate says the medical malpractice caps Texas lawmakers instituted in 2003 should withstand a constitutional challenge. Full Story
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The state's public health laboratories are in financial disarray, according to a report released by the state auditor's office this morning. Full Story
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The intent of the law seemed clear: The state’s 39 MHMRs would, wherever possible, stop offering direct medical services and start managing networks of private providers. But a bureaucratic scrum has delayed the privatization of care. Full Story
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At least two elements of last session’s safety reforms at Texas’ institutions for the disabled — random drug testing and mandatory FBI fingerprinting of all potential employees — appear to be having a direct effect. Full Story
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In the wake of high-profile incidents of abuse, state health officials want to boost payments to Texas' institutions for the disabled by $25,000 per patient per year. But the proposed Medicaid rate change has drawn the ire of Texas’ disability community, which wants to see the facilities shuttered rather than propped up. Full Story
Last week, Republicans loudly complained about a just-approved bill that would send $830 million in federal education funds to Texas with strings attached. But as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, Democrats have their own reason to balk. Full Story
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As the reality of health care reform sinks in, physician-owned specialty hospitals are on edge. Some are scouring the law for loopholes; others want to sell out to corporations. Full Story
Wait times in Texas emergency rooms dropped by 14 minutes between 2008 and 2009, but it still takes just over 4 hours to be seen by an ER doctor, according to a new study by the health care research group Press Ganey. Full Story
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Cases of whooping cough spiked in Texas last year to their highest level since 1962. Ben Freed of KUT News reports on what's being done to prevent the spread of this disease. Full Story
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Statewide disability group ADAPT of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project commemorated the 20th anniversity of the Americans with Disabilities Act today by filing more than 20 lawsuits across the state — targeting inaccessibility in restaurants and municipal buildings. Full Story
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