The latest health and human services commission news from The Texas Tribune.
The infectious disease doctor has been at the helm of the department in an interim capacity since the fall, replacing longtime commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt following his retirement. Full Story
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As public debate intensifies over how the state will divvy up billions in new money, community groups that treat children for mental illness fear they’re not a priority. Full Story
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Texas agencies say they are being hammered by a historic staffing crisis, particularly when it comes to those in the trenches serving the state’s most vulnerable populations. Full Story
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Dr. John Hellerstedt, who has led the Texas Department of State Health Services since 2016, will retire at the end of the month. Dr. Jennifer Shuford, the chief state epidemiologist, has been named his interim replacement. Full Story
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Created in 2019, the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium identifies distressed students and refers them to mental health services. Full Story
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The state’s poorest mothers are paying hundreds of dollars out of pocket when they find baby formula because they say they can’t risk waiting for the exact brand and size container covered by Texas’ Women, Infant and Children program. Full Story
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More children are being treated in Texas hospitals for COVID-19 than ever before, and an unseasonable outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus is adding to the stress on children’s hospitals. Full Story
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A federal attorney claims an order from Gov. Greg Abbott violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and said legal action could follow if the state carries through with plans to pull licenses from the federally contracted facilities. Full Story
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State officials knew children were being illegally housed in an unlicensed facility but did not notify the court, despite a mandate from a federal court judge that came as part of a decade-long class action lawsuit against the state on the behalf of foster children. Full Story
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Lawmakers this session have filed a flurry of proposals related to the pandemic. Some, experts say, constitute meaningful reform. Others could leave the state worse off. Full Story
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The Texas Legislature has declined to pass any broad expansion of state and federal health care coverage for uninsured Texans since the Affordable Care Act of 2010 required states to expand Medicaid — a provision later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Full Story
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Nearly 9,000 Texas nursing home residents have died of COVID-19. This is what the last year of chaos and isolation was like for nursing homes residents and the employees who care for them. Full Story
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For many residents, birthday parties and holiday celebrations took place largely through windows and over video calls. Full Story
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U.S. District Judge Janis Jack says she will give state officials until May to make progress on her orders to overhaul the state's foster care system, or face hefty fines. Full Story
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Their plea comes just days after a state district judge temporarily stopped the state from excluding Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, a government health insurance program for the poor. A hearing is scheduled for later this month. Full Story
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Viruses constantly change by mutating, and the coronavirus is no exception. But health experts say it's difficult to know the exact number of variants currently around the world. Full Story
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As the state began the massive undertaking of distributing the coronavirus vaccine, early data problems left state officials with immunization records that were outdated, incomplete and sometimes misleading. Full Story
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Residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, among others, were added to the priority list that already included hospital staff working with COVID-19 patients. Full Story
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Local health officials describe the electronic system as “cumbersome,” “archaic” and “really slow," though its performance has improved since it was upgraded in August. Full Story
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Visitors previously were allowed only into long-term care facilities where there were no active cases of the virus among residents and no confirmed cases among staff members in the past two weeks. Full Story