Local Mental Health Authorities (LMHAs) are community mental health centers serving the state’s medically indigent mental health consumers. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) contracts with LMHAs to plan, coordinate, and… Read more
Managed care plans are a type of health insurance. They have contracts with health care providers and medical facilities to provide care for members at reduced costs. These providers make up… Read more
Major Diagnostic Categories were formed by physician panels to ensure that Diagnosis Related Group (DRGs) (see encyclopedic entry: Diagnosis Related Group) would be clinically accurate. Each MDC corresponds to a medical… Read more
Graduate Medical Education (GME), commonly referred to as residency, is the supervised training a medical school graduate receives to gain expertise in a specific field of medicine prior to becoming a licensed physician. GME programs are significant providers of indigent care, training residents in hospitals mostly, but also in clinics and other outpatient facilities. The state appropriates funds for GME through allocations to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and to health-related institutions through a formula that incorporates federal contributions via the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 2014-15 general revenue appropriations going directly to health-related institutions via the GME formula equaled $66 million and for the THECB were $34 million, for a biennial total of $99 million.
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Click here for a video summary. Medicare is the federal health insurance program for all Americans age 65 and over, some younger residents with disabilities, and persons with end stage… Read more
A number of members that is greater than half of the total membership of a group and that has the power to make decisions binding on the whole. There are… Read more
A motion to set aside consideration of a bill, resolution, amendment, or other immediate proposition to which the motion applies. [Source: Texas Legislative Glossary: Texas Legislative Council for the 85th… Read more
A formal statement presented in committee or on the floor to a legislative body for action while the body is meeting. [Source: Texas Legislative Glossary: Texas Legislative Council for the… Read more
The Medicaid program, created in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, is jointly funded by the state and the federal government according to the federal medical assistance… Read more