The Senate passed a bill today that would streamline the process of obtaining a medical license in Texas for out-of-state doctors.
federal health reform
Lawmakers Push for Changes to Hospital Hiring Law
Lawmakers today heard heated testimony on a number of bills targeting hospitals’ ability to hire physicians.
Lawmakers Target Federal Health Reform
Federal health care reform was the clear antagonist at todayโs meeting of the House Select Committee on State Sovereignty. Republican lawmakers laid out a dozen bills aimed at getting the federal government out of Texas’ health care system.
Rural Hospitals Hope to Change Hiring Law
A Texas law dating back to the 1800s that keeps hospitals from directly hiring doctors comes before lawmakers today, in a flurry of bills designed to remove the ban โ either for an individual hospital district, or for all the state’s rural hospitals.
New Day Rising: The Changing Public Policy Landscape
At the Tribune’s New Day Rising symposium on Feb. 28, four public policy experts talked about criminal justice, education, health care and other issues and the impact of the coming Hispanic majority.
Proposal Pits Primary Care Against Specialties
A controversial budget proposal would concentrate the money the state spends on graduate medical residencies into the doctorsโ first three years of training โ regardless of how long their residencies take to complete.
Fighting the Fear That Saving a Life Means Losing Your Soul
With the number of Hispanics in Texas continuing to swell, the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance is embarking on a campaign to change cultural and religious resistance to organ donation.
Mapping Where Federal Hospital Dollars Go
State health officials hope they’ve reached a breakthrough in their effort to achieve two goals: expanding Medicaid managed care, and keeping a combined $1 billion in federal health care dollars flowing into Texas hospitals every year.
Guy Clifton: The TT Interview
The Houston neurosurgeon, author and frequent health care adviser to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on his support for the individual insurance mandate, why cutting provider rates to rescue the budget is misguided and how far Texas would trim Medicaid if given the permission.
Lawmakers Want State, Not Federal, Insurance Connector
State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, is no fan of “Obamacare.” But he told his House colleages this afternoon that if they don’t set up a health insurance exchange โ one of the tenets of reform โ by 2014, the federal government will do it for them.


