Author

  • Joey Berlin

    Joey Berlin is the director of advocacy communications at THA. He creates and oversees creation of content to further THA’s messaging on sound health care policymaking at both the state and federal levels, primarily focused on legislative and regulatory matters.

    View all posts Joey Berlin is the director of advocacy communications at THA. He creates and oversees creation of content to further THA’s messaging on sound health care policymaking at both the state and federal levels, primarily focused on legislative and regulatory matters. Regular pieces of content in which Joey plays a central role include THA’s weekly email newsletter, the Health Care Advocate; issue-focused white papers, state and federal priorities documents; the creation of advocacy videos highlighting important issues; and THA’s end-of-session report that recaps important legislation passed in each session of the Texas Legislature. Joey has served in communications roles in the health care trade association industry for nearly a decade. Prior to THA, he worked in communications at the Texas Medical Association (TMA) for seven years, serving as a reporter, associate editor of the association’s monthly magazine, and finally managing editor of TMA’s daily email newsletter. His areas of focus at TMA included legislative affairs, law, public health and quality. Before TMA, Joey spent most of his career in the world of daily news journalism, working at the Topeka Capital-Journal and Emporia Gazette newspapers in both reporting and editing roles in the news and sports departments, and for the news division of WorkCompCentral, a website focused on workers’ compensation. Awards that Joey has won for his newspaper work include a First Place award from the Kansas Press Association for Government/Political Story (Daily Division 2), and Wrestling Media of the Year from the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association for his high school wrestling coverage. Joey has lived in Austin since 2014 and joined THA in 2022. He’s originally from Leawood, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City.

Articles by Joey Berlin

The Federal Case: THA in Washington
May 7, 2024
13 min read

The Federal Case: THA in Washington

After this November’s election, a busy “lame duck” session will likely revisit site-neutral payments, pending deep Medicaid cuts and many more issues on hospitals’ radar.
Workplace Violence: Breaking a Cultural Norm
April 10, 2024
5 min read

Workplace Violence: Breaking a Cultural Norm

When the Texas Hospital Association pushed for key steps to protect health care workers from violence during last year’s state legislative session, it was trying to reverse a long-standing pattern of troubling incidents driving nurses and others out of the profession – a regrettable status quo that had worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. But hand in hand with that aim…
March 5, 2024
3 min read

New Channels: THA’s Hospital Communicators Summit

Last week, the Texas Hospital Association’s Communications team brought together its counterparts from dozens of hospitals and systems around the state in a first-of-its-kind Texas Hospital Communicators Summit. Over the course of two days, communications professionals shared insights, listened to presentations from THA, the American Hospital Association and other experts, and strategized with their fellow attendees on a collaborative path forward.
HOSPAC: Agents of Change
February 29, 2024
5 min read

HOSPAC: Agents of Change

Out of all the ways the Texas Hospital Association pushes for better health care in Texas, HOSPAC – the only political action committee that represents all Texas hospitals – may be the most tangible and impactful route to positive change. In a crucial election year – as HOSPAC awaits the results of next week’s Texas primary to see where its…
January 9, 2024
7 min read

Texas Hospitals are Reclaiming Reality in 2024

Three years of saving lives, elevated personal risk and unprecedented professional stress left hospitals across Texas staggering for footing as the COVID-19 pandemic, by most standards, finally dissipated to a memory. But the onslaught of the pandemic was just a prologue. What Texas hospitals got in 2023 as a reward for their service – from a coalition of health insurance…
National Rural Health Day
November 16, 2023
6 min read

Keeping the Lifeblood Flowing: National Rural Health Day

The unique challenges of caring for populations tucked among open fields and rough two-lane roads haven’t lessened in the 12 years since National Rural Health Day came into being. In fact, in Texas, the need for this day – commemorated on the third Thursday of each November – may be more acute than ever, with more than a quarter of…
By pushing for safeguards in COVID-19 vaccine mandate ban, THA ensures facilities won’t have their hands tied if an employee chooses not to be immunized.
November 2, 2023
5 min read

The COVID Compromise: Fighting for Safe Hospitals

To allow Texas hospitals to continue protecting their patients and their environments against COVID-19, the Texas Hospital Association had to get creative. Early in the Texas Legislature’s third special session of 2023, it became clear – despite THA’s best efforts – that there would be no route to fully exempting hospitals from Senate Bill 7 by Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston),…
Local man gets flu shot, avoids colds and flu
October 5, 2023
5 min read

Cold and Flu Season: Nothing to Sneeze At

Stopping the spread is key not just to a healthy populace, but also for healthy hospitals.
August 24, 2023
1 min read

New Health Care Laws, Explained

THA’s latest health law manual, 2023 New Health Care Laws: From the 88th Texas Legislature, analyzes the new health care-impacting laws that emerged from this year’s regular session that gaveled out in late May, grouped by category.
Mosquito-Borne Illness: A Risk in Every Bite
August 8, 2023
6 min read

Mosquito-Borne Illness: A Risk in Every Bite

West Nile virus is always the top concern for Texas health authorities, but malaria has resurfaced for the first time in decades.