Chief
Governmental and Community Relations Officer
With the June 21
deadline to sign or veto legislation passed during the 84th
Legislative Session now over, here are the results/recap of those
TMA-backed bills we have been following in this column, some of which
are making this column for the first time:
BILLS
SIGNED INTO LAW:
Senate
Bill 18 -- on GME expansion
Senate
Bill 66 -- on the use of epinephrine
auto-injectors in public schools
Senate
Bill 97 -- on restricting minor's
access to e-cigarettes
Senate
Bill 195 -- which would eliminate the
state's Controlled Substance Registration (CSR) permit program,
effective Sept. 1, 2016
Senate
Bill 200 -- Relating to the continuation
and functions of HHSC and the provision of health and human services
in this state
Senate
Bill 202 -- which extends the life of
the Texas Dept. of State Health Services for another 12 years, with
extensive changes to agency operations
Senate
Bill 207 -- on the Medicaid Office of
Inspector General, improves the OIG's accountability and institutes fair
rules and processes for physicians accused of waste, fraud or abuse
Senate
Bill 239 -- would establish an additional
loan remittance program to medical graduates choosing to practice as
psychiatrists or other mental health professionals in an underserved
Texas county
Senate
Bill 481 -- on consumer information
and notice and availability of mediation for balance billing
Senate
Bill 760 -- on improving oversight and
accountability of Medicaid HMOs' physician networks
Senate
Bill 791 -- would increase the availability
of educational material on congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) in
infants.
House
Bill 1 -- general appropriations bill; $209.4 billion state
budget for the 2016-17 biennium, which includes $53 million for GME
expansion grants, appropriates $4 million for existing family
medicine residency programs and $3 million to revitalize the
Statewide Primary Care Preceptorship Program. The budget also
includes significant increases for women's health, mental health
programs and tobacco cessation programs.
House
Bill 7 -- on the tax front, includes the repeal of the
$200 per year occupation tax, which physicians and other
professionals in Texas pay
House
Bill 32 -- cuts the state franchise
tax by 25 percent
House
Bill 440 -- Relating to adapting the
public school physical education curriculum to accommodate the needs
of students with mental disabilities
House
Bill 1514 -- on health
insurance ID cards issued by qualified health plan issuers
House
Bill 1621 -- on utilization review
appeals, require a 30-day advance notice of an adverse utilization
review determination involving prescription drugs or IV infusions
House
Bill 1624 -- on tougher requirements
for health plans to post accurate and up-to-date drug formularies and
network directories on publicly accessible Internet pages
House Bill 1945 --
on removing restrictions on direct contracting for primary care
House
Bill 2171 -- on information maintained
in the immunization registry after an individual becomes an adult
House
Bill 2804 -- Relating to the evaluation
of public school performance; preserves FitnessGram
House
Bill 3074 -- on artificially
administered nutrition and hydration and life-sustaining treatment
House
Bill 3519 -- would allow Medicaid to pay for
home telemonitoring services for patients with two or more specific
medical conditions and a history of frequent hospital admissions or
ER visits
House
Bill 3781 -- would create the Texas Health
Improvement Network, a collaborative, multi-entity initiative, housed
within the UT system, to address significant health disparities in
the state.
BILLS FILED
WITHOUT GOVERNOR'S SIGNATURE:
Senate
Bill 622 -- Relating to the physician
assistant board
Senate
Bill 1753 -- Relating to the
identification requirements of certain healthcare providers
associated with a hospital.
BILLS
VETOED:
Senate
Bill 359 -- would have allowed a
four-hour emergency department hold for a mentally ill patient that a
physician would deem to be a danger to themselves or to others.
House
Bill 225 -- would have protected from
prosecution people who seek emergency care for someone suffering a
drug overdose, and also would have allowed first responders to
administer an opioid antagonist to save someone from a potentially
fatal overdose.
House
Bill 2084 -- Relating to transparency
in the rate-setting processes for the Medicaid managed care and child
health plan programs.
To read any of
the bills mentioned above or others you may be interested in, click
on the following links to access legislation signed
by the governor; filed
without the governor's signature and vetoed
legislation.
Look for a
complete wrapup of the 84th Legislative Session in the August issues
of Texas Medicine
and San Antonio
Medicine.
