The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday opened its discussion on how to finance the state’s health budget by considering the impact of cost containment initiatives and how to proactively curb Medicaid fraud.
federal health reform
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Public Education
Hot Seat: A Conversation with Hancock and Patrick
At last Friday’s Hot Seat conversation at the University of Texas at Arlington, state Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-Fort Worth, and state Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, talked about public education, health care, the state budget and other issues in play in the 83rd session.
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Health care
Report: State Should Put Politics Aside, Expand Medicaid
Texas’ Republican leadership is adamant that Texas will not expand Medicaid, a major tenet of federal health reform. A report by the state’s former deputy comptroller and former chief revenue estimator suggests that would be short-sighted.
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Health care
Bill Proposing Tax Break Targets Contraception Rule
A bill filed Thursday in the Texas House would give religiously based businesses a state tax break if the businesses chose not to comply with the federal government’s mandate that employers provide contraception coverage.
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Health care
Dewhurst, Nelson Tout Proposals to Curb Medicaid Costs
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Jane Nelson on Wednesday discussed new Senate proposals that target Medicaid spending. The plans would institute quality-based payment reforms for long-term care services and measures to catch fraud and abuse.
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Health care
Interactive: Weighing Medicaid Expansion
As they contemplate whether to expand Medicaid, Texas lawmakers will weigh factors including enrollment growth, costs and savings, and the effects on the rate of insured. This interactive breaks down the numbers connected to those factors.
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Health care
Medicaid Waiver Presents Structuring Challenges
Health care providers across Texas are submitting proposals to transform the way they care for the poor and uninsured. But the complicated bureaucratic process for achieving these lofty goals to transform the system has led to disagreements over how to distribute money.
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Health care
Year in Review: Health and Human Services
For health care in Texas, 2012 was a year rocked by scandals, budget cuts, legal challenges and major policy shifts at the state and national levels. Here’s a look back at the year’s biggest stories on health care.
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Health care
Baylor, Scott & White Announce Merger
UPDATED: The boards of both Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare have signed a letter of intent to merge the two organizations, creating a $7.7 billion health network called Baylor Scott & White Health.
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Health care
Study Finds Wide Variations in Rates of Texas Elective Surgeries
The rates of elective surgery for Medicare patients vary dramatically depending on which part of the state Texans live in, according to new research from the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which analyzes medical referrals, procedures and health care costs across the nation.
