Like most people, we were hoping it was all over. But once again, we rose to make our case – and protected Texas hospitals and health care. Months after the 88th regular session of the Texas Legislature ended – successfully for health care on many fronts, thanks to fierce THA advocacy – Gov. Greg Abbott called for the third extra…
With no major federal or state offices up for grabs, it’s likely most people aren’t thinking of this as an election year. But in fact, it is – and for health care champions, there’s one issue on the ballot particularly worth your participation, one that could potentially shape Texas’ health care landscape for a long time to come.
COVID-19 is back. And while it may not become a public health emergency this time – knock on wood – its resurgence serves as a timely note of caution.
For some time, rural hospitals – the facilities in our state facing the greatest threat to their existence – have needed help. This year, in several key ways, the Texas Legislature provided a helping hand. But there remains work to do.
For years, hospitals here in Texas have been experiencing that opposite: We’ve been hurting as our personnel numbers have waned. But now – after a legislative session in which the Texas Hospital Association stressed workforce again and again – we’ve got the barbells, bands and machinery to regain much of our lost strength.
Defense wins championships, the age-old expression goes in sports. Politics is sport in and of itself, and THA had to play some serious defense during the just-concluded session of the Texas Legislature. Now, the work begins to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
If there’s one theme you’ve seen me come back to in this column in the past year or so, it’s this one: Hospitals need help.
Dismantling hospital services does nothing for patients or the price of health care. In fact, it hurts everyone.
It wasn’t long ago that that overwhelming numbers of people across Texas and the nation – on all sides of the political spectrum – knew and acknowledged that vaccines prevent diseases.
An unfortunate reality in today’s world of fast-spreading information is, well, misinformation. With the internet and social media affording a potentially unvetted voice to just about everyone, misinformation is – ironically enough – a fact of life.
