Special Health Care Edition!
What to know: About half of all U.S. hospitals are non-profit, which means they get tax-exempt status in exchange for providing some level of charity care in their areas.
The TPPF take: Texas lawmakers should make more clear what that level of charity care should be.
“Charity care, historically, is supposed to be regarded as the first line of defense in America’s public safety net for health care related costs,” says TPPF’s Nicholas Armstrong. “Texas is one of five states that has minimum spending requirements for charity care. Having cracks within charity care oversight could be disastrous for the state.”
For more on charity care, click here.
Bring It Home
What to know: Arkansas just enacted a ban on the kind of non-compete agreements that keep doctors from seeing their patients after they leave a particular practice.
The TPPF take: Texas should also protect doctors—and their patients—from non-compete agreements.
“When a doctor leaves his employer, NCAs can create a significant disruption in patient care,” says TPPF’s Brian Phillips. “A doctor might be required to relocate outside a certain geographical boundary making it impossible for them to continue seeing certain patients. And the previous employer is under no obligation to communicate to the patient that the doctor left or where they went.”
For more on non-compete agreements, click here.
A Bright Prognosis
What to know: Did you know Texas is one of five states that don’t allow doctors to dispense medicines at their offices?
The TPPF take: This could change; Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow physicians to dispense drugs.
“Research and experience show when patients get their medications from their physician, the convenience and cost reduction helps achieve both better health outcomes and fewer ER visits and hospitalizations,” says TPPF’s Dr. Cliff Porter. “Direct dispense is far cheaper from same suppliers and demonstrated to be medically safe without the financial barrier of inflated drug costs.”
For more on physician dispense, click here.