Michelle Alletto, chief program and services officer at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), discussed the agency’s programs and priorities during the 2024 Texas State of Reform Health Policy Conference on Feb. 27. Alletto said that in 2022, the Texas Legislature tasked HHSC with evaluating the effectiveness of the state’s mental health system. … Read more
With over three million Texan adults experiencing a mental health condition, the state is continuing to identify ways to strengthen access to care. Experts in the field discussed how their organizations are contributing to the continuum at the 2024 Texas State of Reform Health Policy Conference last month. Greg Hansch, executive director of National Alliance … Read more
As the state with the highest number of uninsured people in the U.S., Texas is looking at ways to increase coverage. Health professionals discussed the challenges Texans face and a variety of options to increase coverage at the 2024 Texas State of Reform Health Policy Conference last month. Texas 2036, a public policy think tank, … Read more
Behavioral health experts and community leaders met at the 2024 Texas State of Reform Health Policy Conference last month to discuss the state’s work to bolster its crisis response system. After the Federal Trade Commission adopted rules mandating use of the 988 suicide crisis line, which launched in July 2022, states had to find ways … Read more
Youth mental health professionals discussed efforts to provide care to children in need at the 2024 Texas State of Reform Health Policy Conference last month. Diana Rios-Rodriguez, a registered nurse and director of health and wellness at Manor Independent School District, discussed some of the struggles schools face when trying to provide mental health support … Read more
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is applying for a five-year extension to the current Healthy Texas Women (HTW) 1115 waiver. HHSC plans to submit the application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in March. The current waiver expires Dec. 31st, 2024. Michelle Erwin, deputy associate commissioner in the office … Read more
In this Q&A, Hani Talebi, PhD, chief clinical officer and senior vice president for Health Systems Integration at Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI), spoke with State of Reform about supporting the mental health of Texans. Talebi will be speaking on the “A Focus on Children’s Health: Telehealth, School-Based Services, & More” panel at the … Read more
In December, the Texas Hospital Association (THA) and Texas Nurses Association (TNA) released a Workplace Violence Prevention Toolkit, which is meant to help healthcare facilities protect their workers. The toolkit outlines four different types of violence in the healthcare setting: patient-on-worker violence, worker-on-worker violence, personal relationship violence (where the perpetrator has a relationship with their … Read more
Since Medicaid redeterminations began in April 2023, 1.4 million Texans have been disenrolled from the program. Approximately 759,700 people in the state have had their coverage renewed. As of their most recently published redetermination dashboard from October, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) reported 24% of redeterminations had not been initiated, while 76% … Read more
We hosted our 2022 North Texas State of Reform Health Policy Conference recently, bringing together thought leaders, legislators, and policy experts into multi-silo conversations about the future of health care in Texas. Too often, those with good ideas for reforming health care don’t have a solid understanding of how the legislative process works. … Read more