“Immunization policy is really easy to get behind because it’s just good public health policy. Anything we can do to facilitate the use of vaccines is in everyone’s interest.”
mental illness in school-age children; $25 million for additional crisis services to be provided by local mental health authorities; and $25 million to promote public-private partnerships to improve mental health care delivery and services. The 2014–15 budget adds $100 mil- lion to women’s health services. The leg- islature appropriated $126.3 million to fund the Primary Health Care Program, which contracts with community health clinics and nonprofit organizations to provide services for uninsured, poor Tex- ans who do not qualify for other state health programs. Additional funds in the program will allow DSHS to serve approximately 250,000 Texans annually by providing well-woman checks, cancer screenings, and family planning. The legislature included $43 million
over the department’s $5.8 billion 2012– 13 budget. DSHS received additional funds to cover behavior health services. Health department funding includes $168.5 million to provide adult and child immunizations, $42.9 million for chronic disease prevention, and $29.7 million to fund the tobacco program. An additional $11.7 million will cover ini- tiatives such as increasing tobacco pre- vention and cessation for Quitline coun- seling services and preventing smoke- less tobacco use among children in rural counties. Dr. Lakey says the new programs and expansions made possible by the addi- tional dollars will allow the department
to focus on enhancing services to im- prove the health of Texans. “The legislature put significant dollars
forward for public health. That support can best be seen in the numbers. Our budget for the next biennium will be al- most a half-billion dollars more than our current budget,” he said. “With an addi- tional $332 million in mental health and substance abuse funding over the base budget bill, we can improve services by reducing waiting lists for community mental health services and expanding treatment options.”
Mental health funding includes $4 million to improve mental health servic- es for veterans; $5 million to enhance prevention and early identification of
for services such as sexually transmit- ted disease testing and treatment, con- traception, health exams for men and women, clinical breast exams, Pap tests, and cholesterol and diabetes screenings. Lawmakers also provided $73 million to fully fund the Texas Women’s Health Program, operated by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The program provides low-income women aged 18 to 44 with access to birth con- trol, basic preventive health screenings, and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Before 2013, the federal gov- ernment provided 90-percent funding for the program, but last year the state opt- ed to forgo federal funding to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program.
Lawmakers focus on immunization Dr. Terk testified in support of Sen- ate Bill 64 by Senator Nelson and Rep. John Zerwas, MD (R-Richmond). The
Jason Terk, MD
Rep. John Zerwas, MD
42 TEXAS MEDICINE August 2013
Debra Patt, MD
Eduardo Sanchez, MD
Kimberly Avila Edwards, MD
Sen. Bob Deuell, MD
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68