Texas | September 26, 2021
Texas Hospital CEO Warns It May Stop Delivering Babies Over Biden Vaccine Mandate
Texas | September 26, 2021
The head of the Goodall-Witcher hospital in rural Texas expressed concerns that the facility may have to stop delivering babies due to a recent vaccine mandate handed down by the Biden administration stipulating that healthcare workers at Medicare- and Medicaid-funded hospitals get the vaccine.
Adam Willmann, the CEO, said that some experienced nurses are not vaccinated and don’t plan on getting the shot. Some of the nurses, he suggested, work in the hospital’s maternity ward.
“They are also near retirement age and a few of them have already voiced that, ‘I will just retire,’” Willmann told NPR. “And then a couple other nurses said, ‘Well, I’ll just go work for my husband’s construction company.’”
Willmann said he has been pushing hard to get all of his 250 employees to take one of the vaccines, noting that so far, vaccination rates are at around 70 percent.
Despite mandates, “We’re kind of at that point where everybody… (Excerpts from the Epoch Times)
Texas | August 2, 2021
Texas Hospitals Lack Compliance with Federal Price Transparency Rule According to Survey
Texas | August 2, 2021
Half a year after losing an appeals court battle, many hospitals across the country are still not fully compliant with the federal government’s price transparency rule — including 23 of Texas’ largest hospitals.
An analysis by PatientsRightsAdvocate.org surveyed 500 hospitals across the nation from May to July estimates that 5.6 percent of the nation’s hospitals are fully compliant. The group took a random sample of America’s over 6,000 hospitals.
Issued during the Trump administration, the price transparency rule is a regulatory measure requiring hospitals to make available to customers their actual prices rather than mere ranges or estimates. It also requires hospitals to post those prices on a shoppable page on their website.
The regulatory price transparency rule took effect on January 1 after the American Hospital Association (AHA) lost its challenge in front of the D.C. circuit court in December…. (Excerpts from The Texan)
Texas | April 20, 2021
Speaker Phelan: This set of bills will stabilize Texas’ health care safety net
Texas | April 20, 2021
Last legislative session, Texas made significant strides to our health care system, including eliminating surprise billing, increasing women’s health funding, and securing landmark waivers from the federal government to stabilize our health care safety net.
My House colleagues and I are committed to building upon those successes this session by introducing Healthy Families, Healthy Texas, a bipartisan legislative package to ensure health care in the Lone Star State is accessible and affordable for all 29 million Texans. Healthy Families, Healthy Texas aims to improve the health of Texas mothers, create greater access to affordable health care coverage, and develop alternatives to the federal health insurance exchange. This is a bipartisan effort to better coordinate the continuum of care for Texans across the state.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Texans have relied on technology more than ever, using telemedicine and telehealth to access medical care. House Bill 4 by Rep. Four Price, R-Amarillo, would codify the state’s ability to reimburse medical providers for these innovative services in order to incentivize more doctors to provide them, and in turn, provide greater and convenient access to care for Texas patients…
(Excerpts from The Dallas Morning News)
Texas | April 13, 2021
Congressman Requests Prayers following Emergency Surgery
Texas | April 13, 2021
Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw (R) is requesting prayers after he received emergency eye surgery, CBN News reports. Crenshaw shared that he initially went to the doctor after he noticed strange black spots in his vision. From there, doctors reportedly discovered that his retina was separating from his existing eye.
In a press release posted to Twitter, Crenshaw wrote, “A few days ago, I noticed some dark, blurry spots in my vision. I went to get this checked out by an ophthalmologist on Thursday, and they discovered that my retina was detaching. This is a terrifying prognosis for someone with one eye and the nature of the injuries I sustained in Afghanistan.”….
(Excerpts from Christian Headlines)