The legislative calendar is quickly ticking by, and with the bill filing deadline only five weeks away, the House and Senate will have to hit the ground running when lawmakers return next week.
House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) announced committee assignments Thursday, the last piece of the puzzle needed before legislation can begin referrals to committees for debate.
This session, physician lawmakers will lead several committees the Texas Medical Association works closely with. Senate committee assignments were announced in mid-January.
Rep. Greg Bonnen, MD (R-Friendswood) will chair the House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for helping create a state budget for 2022-23. The House and Senate both unveiled their starting-point proposals last month, and TMA has been digging into the numbers to see what the proposals represent for medicine.
Rep. Tom Oliverson, MD (R-Cypress), the only other physician in the chamber, will chair the House Insurance Committee, giving medicine a powerful voice on legislation that affects physicians’ bottom line.
Representative Oliverson also will serve on the Public Health Committee, which will be chaired by Rep. Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth). The committee has jurisdiction over public health, mental health, and health care regulatory boards and agencies such as the Texas Medical Board.
Rep. James Frank (R-Wichita Falls) will continue as chair of House Human Services, which has jurisdiction over the Health and Human Services Commission, as well as state welfare and rehabilitation programs. Last session, the Human Services committee addressed legislation related to Medicaid, long term care and assisted living facilities, early childhood intervention, and health care for children in foster care, among other topics.
Rep. Chris Paddie (R-Marshall) has been named chair of the State Affairs Committee, which oversees operations of state government, state policies, and regulation of telecommunications, including broadband, the expansion of which will improve access to telemedicine. In previous sessions, State Affairs has debated legislation on abortion, gender identity discrimination, and data and cybersecurity, which is critical to protecting electronic patient health records.
Rep. Morgan Meyer (R-Dallas) will chair the Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax issues. Last session, Representative Meyer drafted a bill that protects employed physicians’ clinical autonomy and independent medical judgment from administrator interference. Under the law, which went into effect last year, a health organization may not retaliate against a physician who in good faith files a complaint to the Texas Medical Board against the organization, including termination, demotion, discipline, or discrimination.
TMA Working to Expand Telemedicine
In his State of the State speech earlier this week, Gov. Greg Abbott identified telemedicine as an important tool in making sure that every Texan can get the health care they need when they need it. The governor called for the waivers he issued earlier in the public health emergency to be made permanent, which would allow for payment parity for health care visits whether provided by telemedicine or in-person.
Telemedicine use has increased exponentially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, aided in large part by state and federal protections and flexibilities that allow for payment parity and the use of audio-only telemedicine services. TMA will continue to call on state lawmakers to make those flexibilities permanent beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency, which has been extended until at least April.
“TMA praises Governor Abbott for prioritizing telemedicine to help Texas physicians care for patients,” said TMA president Diana Fite, MD. “This important initiative will reduce barriers to ensure more patients can receive health care and will empower physicians to improve the health of more Texans.”
Several telemedicine bills have been filed this session, and TMA is watching them closely. Bills seeking telemedicine payment parity are House Bill 515 by Representative Oliverson; House Bill 522 by Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Carrollton); House Bill 980 by Rep. Art Fierro (D-El Paso); and Senate Bill 228 by Sen. Cesar Blanco (D-El Paso.)
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