The mission of the TXCVDS is to “educate, inform and facilitate action among Texans to reduce the human and financial toll of cardiovascular disease and stroke.” The council was created…
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The Texas Administrative Code (TAC) is a compilation of all state agency rules in Texas. The TAC was created by the Texas Legislature in 1977 under the Administrative Code Act.…
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The mission of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program is to “to reduce the health effects and economic toll tobacco has placed on the citizens of Texas.” Their major goals include preventing tobacco use among young people, eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke, reducing tobacco use among populations with the greatest burden of tobacco-related health disparities, and supporting adequate enforcement of tobacco laws including federal, state, and local, etc. In order to serve those goals, their services include:
Beginning in 1998, the Texas Legislature created the Texas Health Insurance Pool, a high-risk pool which consisted of a separate insurance pool for the chronically ill who were virtually uninsurable in an unregulated non-group (sometimes referred to as individual) market. (Without pre-existing conditions protections, insurers will charge sick people more than those that are well). The pool was financed by patient revenue and assessments paid by insurance companies and HMOs as well as federal grant funds.
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Federally Qualified Health Centers in Texas are those receiving federal funds under Section 330 of the Public Service Act. FQHCs receive enhanced funding under Medicare and Medicaid and provide comprehensive services to underserved populations or geographic areas. These clinics also offer a sliding scale for fees charged to patients, are governed by a board of directors, and maintain a quality control program for services. There are 73 FQHCs in Texas, which operate more than 300 sites of care throughout the state. There are also 3 entities known as FQHC look-alikes which offer most of the same services but do not receive all the benefits of FQHCs.
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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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The Texas Veteran’s Commission provides health, housing, education, employment and benefit access services to Texas veterans. The agency received a $101 million appropriation in the 2016-17 biennium, $64 million of…
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The mission of the Texas Board of Nursing is “… to protect and promote the welfare of the people of Texas by ensuring that each person holding a license as…
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Appropriated funds in Texas are generally referred to in five prominent categories: All Funds, Federal Funds, General Revenue Funds (GR), General Revenue-Dedicated Funds (GR-D), and Other Funds. All Funds Budget:…
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