Health And Human Services Commission

Idaho, Maine, Nebraska and Utah voters approved Medicaid expansion through ballot initiatives. Now Texas legislators have filed bills for a vote over whether the state should expand coverage for the joint federal-state health insurance program.

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The closure of a temporary shelter in Tornillo led to a decline in the number of migrant children housed in Texas — and nationwide.

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Amid uncertainty about the federal health law, state legislators will tackle a variety of issues during the session, from abortion to mental health to opioids to funding for Medicaid.

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Advocates for state workers are calling for increased pay after a State Auditor’s Office report released in December found that agency turnover was at 19.3 percent in the 2018 budget year. The top reasons employees said they left were retirement, better pay and benefits and poor working conditions.

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Chris Traylor's new position comes after joining the federal government in July as deputy administrator for strategic initiatives at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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A leading anti-vaccine group claims that day cares are breaking the law by denying kids who haven't been vaccinated. Experts say the group is misinterpreting the law.

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Texas Health and Human Services Commission officials said in an email that “it has become clear that the Heidi Group is unable to come into compliance” and that the organization would no longer be part of the state’s Family Planning Program or the Healthy Texas Women program as of Dec. 11.

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Courtney Phillips currently leads the Department of Health and Human Services in Nebraska.

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On this week's TribCast, Emily talks to Ross, Marissa and Emma about moldy, rat-infested state office buildings, family reunifications at the border, TV ads in the U.S. Senate race and a Republican state lawmaker's tough words for the Texas governor.

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If the state's health agencies have been willing — until found out — to let their own employees work in squalor, should the rest of us be asking more questions about how they're watching out for us?

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The Texas Tribune obtained a recording of a town hall meeting with Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt and state workers nearly two weeks after they were relocated from the Austin State Hospital 636 building where a mold infestation had invaded their workspace.

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Even after the Trump administration said it would reunify families separated under the now-paused “zero tolerance” policy, new data shows the number of children held in privately run shelters in Texas has continued to grow.

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Texas Department of State Health Services employees are being relocated from the Austin State Hospital 636 building where a mold infestation has invaded their desks, chairs, carpeting and keyboard hand rests. The news comes one day after The Texas Tribune reported the mold incursion.

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Workers have found mold infiltrating their desks, chairs and keyboard hand rests in the Austin State Hospital 636 building. The state has spent nearly $16,000 fighting the mold so far.

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The new audit is yet another scandal at an agency plagued by contracting woes. Six of the commission's leaders have left in the last several months.

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The law at the center of the case is Senate Bill 8, passed in 2017, which requires the burial or cremation of fetal remains.

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Following the newspaper's investigation into failings and cutbacks in the state's managed care program, three Texas House committees will meet this month to discuss ways to improve the program.

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Anti-abortion advocates and state leaders, meanwhile, hope the rule will help the state power the right to distribute federal family planning dollars.

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Smith, executive commissioner for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, will step down at the end of May after weeks of intense scrutiny over how the commission handles contracts.

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Despite rising numbers, it's still not known whether the number of women accessing such services has returned to the levels that preceded massive budget cuts during the 2011 legislative session.

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