By John Hawkins, President & CEO, THA   It’s not uncommon for the Texas Legislature to lay an unusual issue at our feet, something that’s never been a point of contention in our work at the Capitol. In the first days of the Legislature’s 89th session, which kicked off on Jan. 14, we find ourselves addressing something we don’t normally touch on with lawmakers: bollards.   While “bollards” isn’t a widely recognized word, they are...

BY John Hawkins, President and CEO, THA   Figuratively, we in the health care world call it the “safety net”: the hospitals that care for vulnerable patient populations and the mechanisms that allow them to provide that care. But like any literal safety net, it has to be checked and reinforced in order to make sure it will still do the job it’s intended to do: serving Medicaid patients and those who are uninsured.  ...

BY John Hawkins   We’re now past the general election, and Texans across the state have cast their ballots, laying the foundation for the 89th Texas Legislature. We now know who will hold the 181 seats at our Capitol, meaning we’re one step closer to determining the next chapter of health care in Texas.   With a clear layout of the new Legislature that will begin its work on Jan. 14, 2025, the countdown has...

BY John Hawkins   It’s a tricky thing to set up any program – government-run or otherwise – to attack big health care problems on a grand scale. A lot of factors come into play to make such a program work, and once you’ve found the right formula, it’s important to make sure any tweaks won’t dilute its quality – or worse, render it ineffective or unworkable.   Out of the many programs that have...

Special to Medical Journal – Houston By John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association Earlier this month, the Governor’s Task Force on Health Care Workforce Shortages held its final meeting ahead of a report it’s scheduled to issue by Oct. 1. The task force is aimed at addressing workforce shortages in our industry, identifying additional pathways to grow our supply of needed professionals and removing existing barriers in the state’s health educational programs. Here at THA,...

BY John Hawkins Some of the issues occupying the top of our priority list here at the Texas Hospital Association aren’t always in the foreground of our state and national consciousness. We know as well as anybody that health care policy can be arcane, and some of the impacts of the status quo go under the radar outside of our world.   Behavioral health, though, is different. Its impacts confront us all, whether it’s ourselves,...

BY John Hawkins, President and CEO, THA   Unbelievably – to me, at least – the second half of 2024 is upon us. We’re now less than six months from another session of the Texas Legislature that promises massive implications for hospitals and health care. And this month, our fight enters a new phase.   As I told you back in January, the Texas Hospital Association is spending the year correcting the record on anti-hospital...

By John Hawkins Coverage is a constant focus of ours here at the Texas Hospital Association, and for good reason: Insurance coverage is paramount to patient care and keeping Texans healthy, and our state has the highest uninsured population in the country. In our minds, it’s never a bad time to talk about it. But thanks to the recent, and largely unfortunate, conclusion to a process that we knew would hurt – the state’s disenrollment...

BY John Hawkins, President and CEO, THA   Texas hospitals are mission-driven organizations dedicated to healing patients. However, they are also businesses that have to worry about their financial health – which is not guaranteed. And unlike any other business, cutting off a vital source of operating revenue will lead to devastating consequences for the health of the communities they serve.   That’s a lesson we never have to stop imparting. And it’s especially true...

BY John Hawkins, CEO, THA   Every piece of financial certainty our hospitals can get these days is appreciated – especially for the facilities that treat the most vulnerable Texans. For the rest of this year, at least, our safety-net hospitals have a sense of certainty that’s been a long time coming.   Hospitals that receive Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments are key to ensuring we can treat as many Texans as possible as...