With just six weeks left before adjournment, the 81st Texas Legislature has reached the lull before the storm. Committees in both the House and the Senate are moving bills out at a steady pace. That’s what happened late last week with two of TAFP’s most important bills, House Bill 1876 and H.B. 1342.

The House Committee on Insurance voted unanimously to approve H.B. 1342 by Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio. The bill would require health plans to provide instant verification of health coverage to physicians at the point of care, including what services are covered, the amount of the patient’s co-pay and deductible, and what the patient’s out-of-pocket costs will be for services provided.

With another unanimous vote, the House Public Health Committee approved H.B. 1876 by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa. This bill would establish a substantial new loan repayment program to draw young physicians into medically underserved areas of the state. TAFP and the Texas Association of Community Health Centers have promoted a series of media events around the state in support of this bill, which has generated a great amount of news coverage. Check out the story below to access a list of those stories and read what newspapers, television stations and radio stations are saying about the need for more access to primary care in Texas’ underserved areas.

Both of these bills will now make their way to the House Calendars Committee, which has the responsibility of setting the schedule for debate on the House floor. The legislative process is designed to kill bills, and the Calendars Committee is the next choke point along the way. TAFP’s CEO, Tom Banning, says there will be “exceptional pressure” to delay these measures in the Calendars Committee, so TAFP needs your help. Contact members of the committee and ask them to consider the importance of these bills to the health of Texans and send them to the House floor to be heard.

Members of the House Calendars Committee are: Chair Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano; Vice Chair Rep. Eddie Lucio, III, D-San Benito; Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso; Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston; Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana; Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe; Rep. Charlie Geren, R-River Oaks; Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland; Rep. Lois W. Kolkhorst, R-Brenham; Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin; Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin; Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland; and Rep. Burt R. Solomons, R-Carrollton.

One more piece of news on the loan repayment issue: Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, has filed Senate Bill 2527, which is the companion bill for H.B. 1876. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee, on which Hinojosa serves as vice chair.

Top TAFP initiatives make news around the state

The Academy is ramping up our advocacy efforts to push top initiatives through the legislative process before the 81st Legislature adjourns on June 1. One campaign to promote physician loan repayment has taken the message of family medicine around the state. From these press events highlighting House Bill 1876, the Academy has generated several media mentions. Read some highlights below and follow the links to read the full stories.

An editorial published in the Dallas Morning News on April 16 called “Good and bad points of Texas House’s budget” examines the $178-billion budget plan. In the article, editors write that the budget doesn’t address Texas’ shortage of primary care physicians. “These doctors are the gatekeepers of medicine, the ones we see most often,” they write. “The House budget puts little into an effort to graduate more of them. Our population will keep growing; will Texas have enough family doctors?”

Link: www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials

An article published in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on April 13 called “Rural areas’ health care inadequate” outlines the difficulties of recruiting physicians to rural communities. “Right now we are blessed because we have a full staff,” said Wallace Boyd, the Ochiltree County Hospital District administrator. “But quite often you have difficulty recruiting because not too many doctors want to practice in rural areas. Most of them, especially those just out of school, want to go to the big cities where they can make more money so that they can repay their student loans.”

Link: www.lubbockonline.com/stories

An article published in the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel on April 8 titled “Proposed snuff tax to help attract docs to rural Texas” focused on the funding aspect of H.B. 1876, which would more fairly tax smokeless tobacco and use the funds generated to help draw physicians to health shortage areas. Texas will need 4,500 more providers by 2015 to care for the growing population. “If we don’t pass something like this bill, and we already have 4,500 openings, then in five years I would guess that number probably doubles,” Robin Moore, CEO of East Texas Community Health Services said at her area press conference. “Because what we’re seeing now is that a lot of the family physicians and general internists are getting into retirement age, so not only are we not producing as many doctors as we were, we are having more of them retire at a very rapid pace.”

Link: www.dailysentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories

For a full list of news and links to stories generated from these events, go to www.healthaccessfortexas.org/#news.

House Public Health hears scope of practice bills

The House Committee on Public Health met late into the evening on Tuesday, April 14, and heard testimony on three bills dealing with the scope of practice for advanced practice nurses. First up was S.B. 532 by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and its companion H.B. 2709 by Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston. TAFP, the Texas Medical Association and Texas Pediatric Society have hammered out this bill with the Convenient Care Association and the major players in the retail health clinic arena to protect patient care by making sure that the physician maintains supervision and accountability of physician assistants and APNs. The hearing went smoothly and proved to be the calm before the maelstrom in the hearing.

The committee next took testimony on H.B. 696 by Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, which would grant APNs prescribing authority provided they enter into prescriptive agreements with physicians. This would allow physicians and APNs to establish their own guidelines for collaboration through unlimited, open-ended contracts with no minimum standard of supervision.

Fort Worth pediatrician Gary Floyd, M.D., testified against this bill on behalf of TAFP, TPS and TMA, telling the committee that the bill would be bad for Texas’ patients, removing vital supervision that ensures quality care in the partnership between physicians and nurse practitioners.

Then the committee heard testimony on H.B. 1107 by Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Carter. This bill would give APNs independent practice of medicine, completely removing them from regulation by the Texas Medical Board and the Board of Nursing. This is a very dangerous bill, and Dr. Floyd told the committee so in no uncertain terms, again testifying on behalf of TAFP, TPS and TMA.

All three bills were left pending before the committee. TAFP News will keep you posted on these bills as developments arise.

Thanks to the Physicians of the Day

Thank you to the physicians who volunteered as Physicians of the Day this week: Paul Guttuso, M.D., of Mabank; Paul Berg, M.D., of Georgetown; Dan Freeland, D.O., of Austin; and Antony Anderson, M.D., of Duncanville.

The Physician of the Day calendar has been filled for the 81st Texas Legislative Session, but TAFP staff can put you on the waiting list for next legislative session or any special sessions, should they arise. For more information, go to the Physician of the Day page of TAFP’s Web site, www.tafp.org/advocacy/physicianoftheday.