Ready or not, the 89th Texas Legislature convened on Tuesday, January 14, with the House of Representatives electing Rep. Dustin Burrows, (R-Lubbock), to serve as Speaker. Experts expect the session will be dominated by the effort to allow the use of state funds to pay for private school tuition, a priority of Gov. Greg Abbott, and a number of infrastructure issues, including the reliability of the electrical grid, water supply, and roads.
The only thing state lawmakers are constitutionally obligated to pass is the state budget, and the outlook is relatively positive on that front. Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced this week that the state will have nearly $24 billion in unspent funds from the current biennium, bringing the total of available funds for 2026-2027 budget to $362.2 billion.
For TAFP and our partners in organized medicine, access to care remains at the top of our legislative priorities. Your family physician leaders and our advocacy team will seek increased funding for family medicine residency programs, as well as other measures to increase and strengthen the state’s primary care workforce.
TAFP has also called for the establishment of a primary care research and innovation lab that would be housed within one of the state’s health science centers. The lab would be designed to evaluate strategies to improve primary care resiliency, capacity, access, efficacy, and cost effectiveness.
“Texas should now pair investments in its primary care workforce with research into how to improve its efficacy and ingenuity, developing strategies to improve patient management, health outcomes, and interprofessional collaboration,” said TAFP CEO Tom Banning and advocacy consultant Helen Kent Davis in a recent post on TAFP.org. “In other words, Texas must help primary care practices adapt now so they will be available in the future.”
Perhaps the most vexing access problem facing the state is the burgeoning rural maternal health crisis. More than 47% of Texas counties lack obstetrical care services, far exceeding the national average of 33%. Because of this alarming lack of access, rural mothers face higher rates of inadequate prenatal care, long travel times to maternity facilities, and poorer health outcomes for both mothers and infants.
TAFP joined a host of concerned organizations last year to publish the Rural Texas Maternal Health Rescue Plan, which proposes a broad set of solutions to address these challenges and secure the future of rural maternal health care.
On the practice management and managed care front, TAFP will push for legislation that would allow physicians and health plans to develop and test value-based payment and delivery models in the commercial market. The Academy has joined a coalition of organizations calling for statutory reforms that would permit doctors and health plans to voluntarily enter into value-based or risk-based contracts with preferred provider organizations and exclusive provider organizations.
As a member of the Texas Public Health Coalition and the Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition, TAFP will fight for funding for women’s health programs, access to immunizations, mental, and behavioral health services, tobacco and e-cigarette prevention and cessation, and support for the state’s public health infrastructure.
As always, scope of practice will be a difficult fight as lawmakers consider what roles nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and pharmacists should play in delivering care to patients. In a September 8, 2024, hearing of the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, TAFP argued that team-based care remains the best model to provide access to high-quality primary care.
“Put bluntly, all health care professionals have unique skills and expertise, but APRNs [advanced practice registered nurses] and other providers are not substitutes for physicians,” TAFP stated in written testimony. “TAFP does not support full independent APRN practice. Rather, TAFP remains ardently in favor of team-based care, where each health care professional's unique patient management skills, insight, and expertise come together to strengthen patient safety and outcomes.” During this legislative session, TAFP will continue to put patient safety and welfare at the heart of our advocacy in matters regarding scope of practice.
Whether you’re new to Texas politics or have spent time in the Capitol in sessions past, there are many ways you can get involved in advocacy for family medicine during the legislative session. Here are a few.
Serve as Physician of the Day
As a service to the Texas Legislature, TAFP provides a family physician in the Capitol every day during the legislative sessions. The program not only provides an important service to legislators, their staff and families, and Capitol visitors if need arises, but also reinforces the specialty’s role as the foundation of a strong health care system.
As Physician of the Day, you are introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives and your name becomes a permanent part of the official legislative record. You’ll spend the day in the Capitol clinic with Katherine Lindley, FNP, seeing anywhere between 25 and 40 patients, depending on the day. You can bring a medical student or family medicine resident to the clinic with you to promote family medicine to the future workforce.
Learn more and sign up to serve as Physician of the Day this session.
Sign up for TAFP’s Key Contacts program
Signing up for the Key Contacts program is as easy as completing a quick form that lets us know if you already have a standing relationship with any of your legislators, or if you’d like to start building one. As legislative battles heat up, legislators need to hear from family physicians like you about how medicine should be practiced. Being a Key Contact is a significant way to serve as a resource to your legislators to advocate for the specialty of family medicine and patient care. It’s also an easy way to stay in the know on all that will take place in the Capitol during the 89th Texas Legislature.
Attend TMA’s First Tuesdays
The Texas Medical Association holds First Tuesday events throughout the legislative session, providing a platform for health care professionals to advocate for their respective specialties and the medical community at large. Attendees visit the Capitol and speak with their representatives regarding significant health care issues. TMA encourages family docs from across the state to join them at the Capitol in your white coats to demonstrate broad support for policy solutions.
Learn more and RSVP for TMA’s First Tuesdays.