The latest health care news from The Texas Tribune.
In this week's edition of the Trib+Health newsletter: Dallas scientists launch new effort that could help some patients with autism, the head of the Health and Human Services Commission announces he's retiring and a warning on using antihistamines before a workout. Full Story
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For more than two decades, federal and state health officials have known that residents of a poor community in the Rio Grande Valley are eating fish laced with unsafe levels of toxic chemicals, but they haven't found a way to stop it. Full Story
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Chris Traylor, the head of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, has confirmed he will retire from the agency at the end of next month, ending a 26-year career in public service. Full Story
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Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Chris Traylor plans to retire at the end of May after 11 months on the job, according to sources briefed on the decision. Full Story
A Texas appeals court delivered a big loss on Thursday to a group of home health agencies and parents of children with disabilities who sued the state over payment cuts to in-home therapy providers. Full Story
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The state’s child welfare agency faces a $40 million budget shortfall, a critical shortage of good homes for foster children and overwhelming caseloads for staff, agency leaders told state lawmakers at a hearing on Wednesday. Full Story
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Texas has become the top destination for people moving from other states, according to a report from the Office of the State Demographer. Leading the way are Californians. Full Story
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State health officials confirmed Tuesday they have asked the Obama administration to keep a 15-month lifeline of federal Medicaid money flowing into Texas to help hospitals treat uninsured patients. Full Story
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UnitedHealthcare, a major health insurer, will no longer sell insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace in Texas next year, according to a letter filed with state regulators. Full Story
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The Texas Supreme Court on Friday tossed out Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to undo the union of the first gay couple to legally wed in Texas. Full Story
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David Daleiden, an anti-abortion activist facing criminal charges after making undercover recordings of a Houston Planned Parenthood facility, is asking a Harris County judge to dismiss his indictments. Full Story
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Texas should be allowed to move forward with cutting payments to therapy providers who serve children with disabilities, a lawyer for the state argued in appeals court Wednesday. Full Story
The younger part of the state’s population doesn’t look like the older part, and a new report suggests we should have a look at that before we make a big mess. Full Story
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In-home therapy providers say they would be put out of business by deep budget cuts to a program for children with disabilities, but the chorus of voices disputing those claims grew a little louder on Tuesday. Full Story
In this week's edition of the Trib+Health newsletter: Abused children in Texas are being left longer in psychiatric facilities, prices for some of the country's top drugs have increased more than 100 percent in recent years and an interview with David Earnest, a professor at Texas A&M University. Full Story
In emails and posts on a private Facebook page, parents are responding to last week's killing at UT-Austin by demanding something be done about the homeless, especially along the Drag. Full Story
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Some of the state officeholders elected in 2014 face struggles to gain control of their government, political and legal duties. They're looking like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, or the 1962 Mets. But the stakes are more serious than that. Full Story
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At a time of heightened public scrutiny of Texas’ embattled child welfare agency, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday appointed new leadership of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Full Story
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The Texas foster care system has been throwing off increasingly desperate distress signals for months. It falls to caseworkers like 27-year-old Daniel Hernandez to try to keep it working. Full Story
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Abused children in Texas are being left in psychiatric facilities longer than they were six years ago as the state's child protective services system grapples with federal court scrutiny and diminishing options. Full Story