The House Committee on Public Health approved a bill Wednesday to block Gov. Rick Perry’s executive order mandating all girls entering 6th grade receive an HPV vaccination. House Bill 1098 by Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, was passed through the committee with a 6-3 vote and will be heard on the House floor later in the session. Also approved was House Bill 146 by Joseph Deshotel, D-Beaumont, requiring the dissemination of educational materials on the vaccine.

San Angelo pediatrician Jane Rider, M.D., testified in front of the committee Monday on behalf of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, the Texas Medical Association and the Texas Pediatric Society. Rider emphasized organized medicine’s stance on the vaccine, which is consistent with AAFP’s statement on mandated use of HPV vaccination. “We strongly support the ability of physicians to provide the HPV vaccine,” but because the disease is not spread by casual contact and is only available for one gender, “we do not, at this point, support the state mandate.” Rider also highlighted concerns with funding and distribution of the HPV vaccination, but warned against weakening immunization rates for other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Another issue brought in front of the House Committee on Public Health included House Bill 92 by Dan Branch, R-Dallas, which would allow automated external defibrillator to be sold over the counter to schools, businesses, government buildings and other public places. The bill was left pending, which means that the committee will hear and vote whether to pass the bill to the House floor at a later date.

Bill could reduce physician supervision of NPs and PAs

A bill filed in the House and Senate could increase the drive toward retail health clinics by decreasing the amount of time a physician is required to spend in a secondary clinic and increasing the number of physician assistants or nurse practitioners the physician can oversee to write prescriptions.

House Bill 1096 by Rob Orr, R-Burleson, would enable one physician to oversee six physician assistants and nurse practitioners within 75 miles of the physician’s primary practice. Currently, the ratio is one physician to three nurse practitioners or physician assistants within 60 miles of the physician’s practice. Under the new legislation the physician would have to review 10 percent of patient charts from the site, a change from reviewing them on-site, and would no longer have to be at the clinic for 20 percent of the time. An identical bill has been filed in the Senate, Senate Bill 800 by Dan Patrick, R-Houston.

“One of the many concerns of expanding the number of practitioners a physician can supervise is on quality of care and ensuring that appropriate supervision is being provided as well as ensuring those practitioners are not practicing beyond their education and training,” said Tom Banning, TAFP’s director of public affairs.

Funding for medical priorities still in the air

The House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee have been meeting day and night to finish budget deliberations on many issues. Some of these are directly related to health care, including Medicaid reform, CHIP enhancements and graduate medical education funding. These committees will continue their deliberations through March, starting negotiations in early April.

There’s still time to contact your legislators and to tell them how these programs affect your practice. Talking points for Medicaid, CHIP and workforce issues can be found in the issue briefs published by TAFP. Find the briefs and more information on the policy initiatives page of the TAFP Web site.

Thanks to these Physicians of the Day

Thanks to the physicians who volunteered their time this week to serve at the Capitol as Physician of the Day. This week’s physicians were Julie Graves Moy, M.D., of Austin; Christopher Lawrence, M.D., of McKinney; Mark Eidson, M.D., of Weatherford; and James McCurdy, M.D., of Marble Falls.

For more information on the Physician of the Day program, contact Kate McCann at TAFP.