Arlington Doctor Appointed to Texas Medical Board
from The Fort Worth Business Press, Jan. 5, 2009
Gov. Rick Perry appointed Arlington Memorial Hospital’s Dr. Scott Holliday to the Texas Medical Board for a term that will end on April 13, 2013. Holliday, an anesthesiologist at Pinnacle Partners in Medicine and chairman of AMH’s department of anesthesiology, lives in University Park. He will be replacing Dr. Roberta Kalafut of Abilene on the Texas Medical Board, which establishes and maintains standards of excellence to regulate medicine and quality health care in the state. More

TMA's Prescription for a Healthy Texas
from The Texas Medical Association, Jan. 6, 2009
As you can read in the January issue of Texas Medicine, the Texas Medical Association plans to pursue an ambitious agenda when the legislature convenes next month. A tight budget, narrow partisan margins in the Texas House and Senate, and an anticipated all-out assault on scope of practice promise to make the 2009 legislative session particularly challenging for organized medicine. More

Is Texas Looking Out For You? Healthcare Outsourced, Patients Suffer
from The Dallas Morning News, Jan. 4, 2009
Evercare of Texas was supposed to coordinate medical and long-term care for more than 80,000 elderly, blind or disabled North Texans. "We help make it easier to get the care you deserve," the company promises on its Web site. For many Texans, it hasn't worked out that way. Willis Stewart, a 61-year-old carpet layer who had his teeth pulled during treatment for mouth cancer, said he has waited three months for Evercare to approve the dentures that will allow him to eat solid food again. Steven McGee, a 55-year-old truck driver disabled by multiple sclerosis, said he phoned the company for seven months without reaching a medical coordinator. And Mary Hunt, a 72-year-old widow, said she has waited months for dental care. "They ought to call them 'Nevercare,'" said Hunt, among the hundreds of people who have complained about denied or delayed medical care. More

Editorial: 10 Health Care Suggestions for the Texas Legislature
from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jan. 4, 2009
The 2009 legislative session is unlikely to lift the state out of its rock-bottom national ranking in healthcare. Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents and spends the least per resident on healthcare — $2,141 compared with the national average of $3,508. The state is not impoverished, ranking 21st in per-capita income, and consistently has a lower unemployment rate than the nation. Healthcare spending is simply not a priority. But legislators can improve accessibility and affordability by exerting leadership. More

Texas Lags Behind Other States on Children’s Issues
from The Austin American-Statesman, Jan. 6, 2009
Texas teens are more likely to become pregnant than those in any other state, and children in the Lone Star State are among the most likely in the nation to die from abuse or neglect, according to a new report by Texans Care for Children, an advocacy group. “The lesson here is that under-investing in our children has real consequences,” said Eileen Garcia-Matthews, the group’s executive director. More

Texas Teen Births No Longer Lead Nation, Still Above Average
from The Dallas Morning News, Jan. 7, 2009
Mississippi now has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title, according to a new federal report released Wednesday. Mississippi's rate was more than 60 percent higher than the national average in 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The teen pregnancy rate in Texas and New Mexico was more than 50 percent higher. In Mississippi, there were about 68 births for every 1,000 women, ages 15 through 19 in 2006. The New Mexico rate was 64 per 1,000; Texas was 63. The national birth rate for females in that age group was about 42 per 1,000. New Hampshire, with a rate of 19 per 1,000, was the nation's lowest. More

Health Care Outlays Climb at Slowest Rate in Years
from The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 6, 2009
Health-care spending grew at its lowest rate in nearly a decade in 2007, but it continued to swallow an ever-bigger portion of U.S. gross domestic product and family budgets, a new federal study shows. Restrained by a sharply slower growth in prescription-drug spending, the nation's health-care tab grew 6.1 percent to $2.2 trillion, or $7,421 a person. That's down slightly from the 6.7 percent growth in 2006, according to the study being published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs. The findings are likely to add fodder for all sides of the health-overhaul debate expected to take center stage in Washington this year. As health costs continue to mount, some Democratic leaders argue an ambitious overhaul can't be delayed. Other lawmakers say it would be far too costly, particularly as President-elect Barack Obama and Congress need to contend with a broken economy. More

City of Dallas Opens Employee Clinic in City Hall
from The Dallas Business Journal, Jan. 6, 2009
With the rising cost of health care and disease prevention remaining top concerns for employers, the City of Dallas has decided to open a medical clinic for employees at City Hall to increase employee health care, reduce health care spending and decrease employee absenteeism. The City of Dallas says the clinic, which will be operated by health care provider Concentra, will be able to treat employees, dependents and City of Dallas retirees. More

Pressure Builds for Further Slashes to Medicare Advantage Spending
from American Medical News, Jan. 5, 2009
Sporting a long list of health priorities but facing a shortage of funding, Democratic lawmakers once again are looking toward squeezing Medicare private plans to secure more health dollars for new spending proposals. Some lawmakers preparing for a busy 2009 session on health system reform have recently renewed their charges that Medicare Advantage, the private insurance alternative to traditional fee-for-service, is overpaid and overrated. Congress in July 2008 approved billions in cuts from the program to help pay for the 18-month physician payment patch that will last through the end of this year, but more reductions might be in store. More

Health Put On Hold in Sickly Economy
from The Washington Times, Jan. 6, 2009
A tough economy has created a health hazard of its own. Strapped for cash, thousands of Americans are skipping medication doses, shunning doctor visits and forgoing diagnostic tests to save money. It's sickening. For real. Almost half of the public - 47 percent - have postponed health care, did not fill a prescription, or skipped a medical test, immunization or mental health treatment because of the cost, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. More