Texas Insight’s Recent Reports
- Trauma-Informed Care in Texas: Building on recent postings’ themes of the health and social impacts of economic disparities and abuse, this is the first posting in a new series on trauma-informed care and its use and promise in Texas. Trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing event, differing from common life stressors in that trauma causes a sense of intense fear, terror and helplessness that is beyond the normal range for typical experiences. Trauma-informed care programs are those that incorporate knowledge of the impact of trauma and traumatic stress into policies and programs of systems of care, such as the child welfare system, schools, and the healthcare system.
- Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services: Part I: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee met to address several charges. This report covers the following: Evaluate the commission’s efforts to ensure Medicaid managed care organizations’ compliance with contractual obligations and the use of incentives and sanctions to enforce compliance. Assess the commission’s progress in implementing competitive bidding practices for Medicaid managed care contracts and other initiatives to ensure the best value for taxpayer dollars used in Medicaid managed care contracts.
- Texas Senate Health and Human Services: Part II: The Senate Health and Human Services Committee met to address several charges. This report covers the following: Review the Health and Human Services Commission’s efforts to improve quality and efficiency in the Medicaid program, including pay-for-quality initiatives in Medicaid managed care. Compare alternative payment models and value-based payment arrangements with providers in Medicaid managed care, the Employees Retirement System, and the Teacher Retirement System, and identify areas for cross-collaboration and coordination among these entities.
Federal Healthcare Reports
- Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Funding for FY2016 and FY2017: Members of Congress are frequently lobbied to support adding funding to annual defense appropriation legislation for certain congressional special-interest medical research programs on a wide variety of diseases and topics. When meeting with representatives of various organizations, Members frequently wish to know previously enacted levels for such funding under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).
- Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018: Brief Summary of Division E – The Advancing Chronic Care, Extenders, and Social Services (ACCESS) Act: This report provides a brief summary of each of the provisions included in the ACCESS Act, along with the contact information for the CRS expert who can answer questions about each provision.
- The National Health Service Corps: This report provides an overview of the National Health Service Corps, including the program’s funding, the number and types of providers the program supports, and the locations where they serve.
State Healthcare News
- Chair Schwertner calls for more changes to Medicaid contracts
- Texas children’s therapy providers face dilemma over offering services
- Report: Drugs or alcohol factor into half of Texas child abuse and neglect deaths
Federal Healthcare News
- Healthcare tops list of Americans’ worries: poll
- HHS strips lesbian, bisexual health content from women’s health website
- Trump administration taps AIDS researcher to lead CDC
- Transgender Workers Gain New Protection Under Court Ruling
- Trump Approves New Limits on Transgender Troops in the Military
- House Passes Bill that Would Give Patients Access to Experimental Drugs
- More Cases are Reported of Unusual Cancer Linked to Breast Implants
- Getting Sick Can be Really Expensive, Even for the Insured
- Birth Control Apps Find a Big Market in ‘Contraception Deserts’
- More States Move to End ‘Tampon Tax’ That’s Seen as Discriminating Against Women