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Department of State Health Services

The latest Department of State Health Services news from The Texas Tribune.

  • No More Valley Carve-Out?

    By Emily Ramshaw

    When Texas expanded its Medicaid managed care program in 2003 to cover more than urban centers, the Rio Grande Valley narrowly avoided being included. But as state leaders stare down a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, they say it’s unlikely the Valley will make it through another session without being roped in. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Forced to Fight

    By Emily Ramshaw, The Texas Tribune, and Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle

    Workers at a center for distressed children in Manvel provoked seven developmentally disabled girls into a fight of biting and bruising, while they laughed, cheered and promised the winners after-school snacks. The fight was one of more than 250 incidents of abuse and mistreatment in residential treatment centers over the last two years, based on a Houston Chronicle/Texas Tribune review of Department of Family and Protective Services records. Full Story 

    The Dystar Residential Inc. campus, in Manvel, photographed on Friday, June 4, 2010.
    Credit: Nick de la Torre / The Houston Chronicle

  • Quite an Undertaking

    By Julián Aguilar

    When a family member dies, accessing bank accounts and collecting on insurance policies requires proper paperwork. Despite a state mandate to process death certificates in a timely fashion, however, doctors are dragging their heels, funeral directors say, leaving survivors in the lurch. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Uninformed Consent

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Lawmakers said Monday that the state's newborn disease screening program — which has been used to warehouse infant blood samples for biomedical and forensics research — has misled parents and given them few options to protect their babies' DNA. Full Story 

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  • Slideshow: Borderline IQ

    By Caleb Bryant Miller

    What's a mother to do when her autistic, suicidal son is too dangerous to live on his own — but has too high of an IQ to qualify for state care services? A day with Karen Bartholomeo and her adopted son, Cameron. Full Story 

  • Admission Impossible

    By Alexa Garcia-Ditta

    The wait to get into one of Texas' 10 state mental hospitals — already long — may be about to get longer. Last month, as part of its attempt to comply with Gov. Rick Perry’s request that each state agency reduce its budget by 5 percent, the Department of State Health Services proposed eliminating 50 beds from four of the state's 10 mental hospitals: San Antonio, Rusk, Terrell and North Texas Wichita. The state's mental hospitals are already almost at full capacity, with nearly 2,500 self-admitted patients and allegedly criminal patients awaiting treatment so they can stand trial. Full Story 

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  • The $27 Billion Question

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The debate over how much federal health care reform will cost Texas put the state’s health and human services chief on the defensive on Wednesday, as he presented a budget estimate that is 20 times higher than federal projections. Full Story 

    HHSC Commissioner Tom Suehs testifies before lawmakers.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • HHSC Chief Testifies on Health Care Costs

    By Elise Hu

    Is the health reform price tag in Texas $1.4 billion... or more like $24 billion? State Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, asks HHSC Commissioner Tom Suehs to explain why his agency's estimate is so much higher than a federal estimate. Full Story 

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  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Grissom on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to stay Hank Skinner's execution, Thevenot on the myth of Texas textbook influence, Rapoport on the wild card who was just elected to the State Board of Education, Ramshaw on the price of health care reform, Philpott on the just-enacted prohibition on dropping kids from the state's health insurance rolls, M. Smith on the best little pole tax in Texas, Ramsey on the first corporate political ad and the reality of 2011 redistricting, Stiles on the fastest-growing Texas counties, Aguilar on the vacany at top of Customs and Border Protection at the worst possible time, Galbraith on the state's lack of renewable energy sources other than wind and its investment in efficiency, and Hu and Hamilton on the runoffs to come in House districts 52 and 127. The best of our best from March 22 to 26, 2010. Full Story 

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  • After the Fight

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    A year ago, staff at the Corpus Christi State School were forcing mentally disabled wards to fight each other, and state lawmakers raced to enact new accountability measures. How are they working out? Ben Philpott, who covers politics and public policy for KUT News and the Tribune, has this report. Full Story 

    State Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs

  • What the Doctor Ordered

    By Emily Ramshaw

    The Texan at the top of the American Medical Association explains why Texas has so much to gain from the health care overhaul, what effect tort reform has had on the state’s medical costs, and what the political ramifications are for his organization's support of the reform bill. Full Story 

    Dr. J. James Rohack, a senior staff cardiologist at Scott & White Clinic in Temple, and the president of the American Medical Association

  • The Price of Reform

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Behind the fiery health care rhetoric is a measure expected to dramatically expand Texas’ Medicaid program, adding up to 1 million adults to the state’s insurance roll — but at a steep cost. Texas will have to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue to foot its share of the bill. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva