Many Texans have stories just like mine; tragic stories that could have been prevented if we simply did something to lessen the use of this addictive substance. Fortunately, we now have the opportunity to prevent people from abusing an even more dangerous form of it: powdered alcohol.
The Lady Bird Johnson Environment Award honors outstanding achievements in the preservation, restoration or improvement of the natural world that embrace Mrs. Johnson's style, energy and commitment to her work.
As the Texas Legislature finishes the anti-sanctuary cities bill, Senate Bill 4, one question keeps going through my mind: When did it become so easy for the Republican-controlled leadership to ride roughshod over people like me and those who represent the interests of the Latino and immigrant communities?
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to add a second section to the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that delegates to the federal judiciary the power to interpret the constitutional role of the federal government. The notion that the U.S. Supreme Court is the final arbiter of constitutional meaning is what is killing our liberty.
We have legislation pending that would finally preserve Lions Municipal Golf Course, known to locals as “Muny,” and give us the ability to properly honor its history in civil rights in Texas. Once again, the University of Texas is fighting it.
At Baylor, we have more than doubled both our counseling center’s physical space and clinical staff, an investment of close to $1 million in additional annual budget resources, which has resulted in expanded services to students, further specialized training for staff and enhanced mental healthcare options for our students.
Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) perform a vital, important function in our health care delivery system. However, they are not physicians, any more than I am a nurse. Texas is correct to keep its team-based care approach. It ensures patients receive care from each member of the patient care team, based on his or her knowledge, training and expertise.
Everyone knows the costs of the American health care system are epically high. But health centers keep costs down, saving the system $24 billion per year by keeping people out of costly emergency rooms for things like an earache or cold. But a rash of policy decisions coming out of Washington this year won't retain or improve health centers' delivery model.
Even though Texas legislators have taken steps to protect patients, insurance providers can – and do – still engage in a practice called “non-medical switching,” where patients’ prescriptions are changed to other, more profitable treatments.
The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) found that lawsuits take seven times longer to resolve than regular insurance claims; that’s close to two years to resolve what would normally take 90 days through the regular insurance claims process.
Blended learning combines the traditional classroom with online or digital resources and may incorporate a self-paced element based on students’ interests or learning level. Aside from teaching how to use technology, blended learning reduces educational costs, increases the number of subjects learned, helps students strive further in particular subjects and allows teachers greater one-on-one relationships with students.
When it comes to redistricting — the redrawing of representative districts after each ten-year census — the Texas Legislature has gotten it wrong over and over again. The districts end up looking vaguely reptilian, squiggling across the map of Texas, with lines drawn in any way mathematically possible to obtain political advantage.
Our state and regional planning processes include projected water needs for cities, industry, agriculture, and mining — but not for wildlife. Failing to plan to provide enough water to protect springs, rivers and coastal bays is planning to fail the kids of Texas.
TSTC is so confident in the quality of its technical education programs that it now guarantees its graduates will find a job within six months of graduation — or their money back.
For students with work and family responsibilities, the constraints of location and time can result in either very slow progress towards a degree or having to drop out. Online offerings can help, enabling students to progress towards the attainment of skills needed for bettering their futures through education.
Freestanding ERs are crucial. They improve access to care by offering patients alternative settings to overcrowded hospital-based emergency rooms.
After six years behind the desk, I can definitely see the Texas teacher shortage and its causes: Low pay, mediocre insurance and benefits, an emotionally demanding workload, the unspoken requirement of personal investment on a financial level, constantly changing regulations written by people who have not entered a public school classroom since their own high school graduations.
Each year, more and more business owners tell us that surprising and exorbitant out-of-network medical bills from facilities called freestanding emergency rooms are taking up a larger chunk of their health care budgets.
Despite growing evidence and a body of research showing favorable patient outcomes and excellent quality of care in states where advanced practice registered nurses have full practice authority, Texas still prevents them from doing what they can do and what patients desperately need. As a result, Texans who could be treated by an APRN have no care at all.
It is natural for many to advocate leaving Muny and the tract alone. We would agree completely if the challenges of fulfilling UT’s mission were different. Unfortunately, things have changed a great deal even in the last 10 years: UT now finds itself in a city suffering an affordability crisis even as the Legislature continues to cut financial support to the university.
