efficiency by forming and regu- lating health care collaboratives;
• Ensure physicians would have an equal say and vote in a col- laborative’s governing board, and due process protections and the ability to participate in more than one collaborative arrange- ment in their community;
• Create a new Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Quality-Based Payment Advisory Committee and pro- gram that would tie a portion of Medicaid HMO premiums to improved health outcomes and quality, and implement copay- ments in Medicaid to reduce unnecessary emergency depart- ment use;
• Create more than $460 million for Medicaid by placing a pre- mium tax on Medicaid managed care companies that are expand- ing to the Rio Grande Valley;
• Protect patients from vaccine- preventable diseases in health care facilities, such as hospitals, by requiring them to implement vaccination policies to immu- nize their employees;
• Establish the Texas Emergency and Trauma Care Education Partnership Program to ensure support of the trauma infra- structure in Texas;
• Allow Texas to participate in a multistate compact to help fund and administer Medicaid and Medicare; and
• Deny state funding to public hospital districts that perform abortions except in the case of a medical emergency.
The provisions of SB 7 related to
Medicaid spending were critical to balancing the budget that lawmak- ers passed in the regular session. At press time, SB 7 was awaiting Gov- ernor Perry’s signature. n
Ken Ortolon is senior editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach him by telephone at (800) 880- 1300, ext. 1392, or (512) 370-1392; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at ken.ortolon@texmed .org.
Medicine’s voice heard in Austin
Physicians, medical students, and TMA Alliance members played a key role in passing TMA’s 2011 legislative agenda by personally lobbying law- makers during First Tuesdays at the Capitol in February, March, April, and May. The white coats that filled the capitol hallways and the House and Sen-
ate galleries sent a powerful message to legislators that TMA and physi- cians, students, and alliance members would be watching as they debated issues that are critical to Texans’ health. TMA thanks all of those who took time away from their practices, their
studies, their jobs, and their families to come to Austin to take part in First Tuesdays at the Capitol. For a complete list of participants, log on to www
.texmed.org/firsttuesdays. In addition to those participants, many physicians also provided their medical expertise and insight as they testified before House and Senate committees on numerous bills that affected physicians and patients during the legislative session, as well as during the interim before this year’s session. They were:
Richard Adams, MD, Dallas Louis Appel, MD, Austin John Asbury, MD, Temple Sara Austin, MD, Austin Susan Rudd Bailey, MD, Fort Worth Carol Baker, MD, Houston Judy Boom, MD, Houston Sue Bornstein, MD, Dallas Dawn Buckingham, MD, Austin John Carlo, MD, MSE, Dallas Kimberly Carter, MD, Austin Wendy Chung, MD, Dallas Douglas Curran, MD, Athens Kimberly Avila Edwards, MD, Austin Gary Floyd, MD, Fort Worth Alice Gong, MD, San Antonio Charleta Guillory, MD, Houston John Hellerstedt, MD, Austin John Holcomb, MD, San Antonio Philip Huang, MD, MPH, Austin Charles J. Lerner, MD, San Antonio Asa Lockhart, MD, Tyler C. Bruce Malone, MD, Austin Dan McCoy, MD, Dallas
Clifford Moy, MD, Austin Don Murphey, MD, Fort Worth Matthew Murray, MD, Austin Debra Ann Patt, MD, Austin Stephen Ponder, MD, Odessa Stephen Pont, MD, Austin R. Michael Ragain, MD, Lubbock Janet Realini, MD, San Antonio Susan Norton Rossmann, MD, PhD, Houston
Leslie Secrest, MD, Dallas Theodore Spinks, MD, Austin Dana Sprute, MD, MPH, Austin Wesley Stafford, MD, Corpus Christi Susan Strate, MD, Wichita Falls Erica Swegler, MD, Keller Jason Terk, MD, Keller Russell Thomas, DO, Eagle Lake Paul Tucker, MD, Austin David Tuescher, MD, Beaumont Stephen E. Whitney, MD, MBA, Houston
August 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 33
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