Numerous medical associations and health care providers will be making their presence known in Austin during the session and soliciting support on health-related issues that have been identified as important.
Providing some form of health insurance to the 5.6 million uninsured Texans is a priority.
Premiums for employer-based insurance have more than doubled since 2000, according to the Texas Medical Association, making cost the major factor for those uninsured. The average cost for family health insurance coverage is more than $12,000 annually.
Uninsured patients increase the cost of providing health care to all Texans because the emergency room has become their primary source of care, according to the Texas Medical Association.
To compound the problem, Texas has a shortage of physicians.
“Workforce is going to be extremely important in Texas,” said Dr. James Rohack, director of the Scott & White Center for Healthcare Policy.
As more people receive health coverage, the physician shortage will intensify.
There is a movement in the state to increase the size of first-year enrollments at medical schools, but there also needs to be an increase in graduate medical school slots, Rohack said.
As medical school enrollment increases, more Texas-educated medical students will be forced to leave the state for graduate education because of the shortage of residency positions, and chances are the individuals will not return.
Providing funds to expand current graduate medical education programs would cost less than starting new programs, Rohack said.
Tort liability reforms have made Texas a good place to practice medicine and is key to recruiting out-of-state physicians, he said.
“As we grow our own physicians, it’s important that we make sure they have an opportunity to stay in the state to get their graduate education and then obviously continue to practice,” Rohack said.
It’s also vital that trauma care funding be made available to hospitals that treat people with no health insurance who have experienced a catastrophic trauma, he said.
“The state set up a fund to pay for that and every year it’s a challenge to get it distributed to where it’s suppose to go,” he said.
In addition, Dr. John Saito, director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Scott & White, wants Texas newborns screened for cystic fibrosis.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has requested funds in its budget to implement screenings, but with a tight budget it could easily be pulled, Saito said.
Texas now screens newborns for 27 disorders and is one of the few states that doesn’t screen for cystic fibrosis.
Annually, if babies in Texas were screened for the disease an estimated 85 children would be diagnosed, Saito said. That’s important because catching the disease early goes a long way in protecting the child’s lungs and brain, he said.
Clinically, about a third of the cases would be caught, but there are areas in Texas where the disease wouldn’t be recognized as quickly, he said.
“The later they’re diagnosed, the more illnesses they’ll have, and the sicker they are the more attention they’ll need in terms of medical care and hospitalization,” Saito said.
This will be the third time funding for the cystic fibrosis screening has been requested of the state Legislature.
Texas Poison Control Centers are also looking for new funding. The center that serves Central Texas is located at Scott & White Memorial Hospital.
The Texas Poison Center Network was established by the Texas Legislature in 1993. This bill mandated that a network of six regional poison centers be established to provide emergency treatment information to the citizens of Texas for poisonings or toxic exposures. Access to this health care advice is available to both the lay public and to health care providers in the state.
Current funding for the centers is based on telephone line taxes and because land lines are declining, a new mechanism for funding the poison control centers is needed.
Other health care issues Scott & White Center for Healthcare Policy, the Texas Hospital Association and the Texas Medical Association will be championing include:
-Addressing the nursing shortage
-Support for programs to address obesity at the local level
-Providing a physical education component for grades K-12
-Increased funding for allied health practitioners
-Continued funding for Children’s Health Insurance Program perinatal program
-Establishing a Medicaid buy-in program for children
-Allowing parents to purchase coverage for adult children
-Health insurance pay for routine medical care for clinical trials
-Improved mental health funding
-Making Texas smoke-free in public places
-Improved Texas’ immunization
