'Code Red' health care report released
A report published recently by a task force studying healthcare issues outlines some sweeping and dramatic suggestions. The task force includes representatives of 10 academic health institutions in Texas as well as representatives from small and large business employees, health care providers, insurers and consumers. Financial support for the project came solely from the public academic health institutions.
After examining the most pressing health care issues statewide such as rising costs and the fact that one in four Texans is uninsured, the report's authors recommended, among other things,:
- Levying a tax of 3 percent on all hospitals' and surgery centers' revenue to subsidize health care for the poor and gain federal matching money to generate an overall total of approximately $3 billion. This recommendation was based on the fact that 35 other states have some form of this tax, which is sometimes called a quality assurance tax, according to the task force.
- Encouraging employers to offer health insurance by incentivizing them with preferential treatment. The idea would be to give preferential treatment to companies who sell to state and local governmental entities if they provide reasonable insurance coverage to employees; and
- Increasing the number of medical residencies in Texas by, among other things, forgiving medical school loan debt in exchange for service in public hospitals.
The task force's report, Code Red: The Critical Condition of Health in Texas, also calls on community leaders to address problems on a regional level, not on a county-by-county basis. According to Travis County Hospital District Chairman Clarke Heidrick (pictured) and many other health care experts, health care is a regional issue largely because patients and doctors aren't bound by county lines and most rural residents flock to urban hospitals for care.
State unveils $20M border security plan
Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday that the state will counter rising border violence, drug activity and illegal migrant crossings by placing a virtual wall of Web cameras on ranch land in South Texas. The "wall of cameras" is part of a larger $20 million plan already being put into effect. The state is investing $5 million to procure and position hundreds of cameras, which will feed images to a state Web site on a 24-hour basis. Anyone can watch for illegal activity when the first cameras go live in about 30 days. The governor's office said the other $15 million will cover law enforcement overtime, four-wheel-drive vehicles, body armor, night-vision goggles and electronic fingerprint systems. A statement issued by the governor's office said Perry would ask the Legislature for another $100 million during the next session to continue what he calls Operation Rio Grande "until the federal government fulfills its responsibility of securing the border."
Emerging Tech Fund Awards $6M to Firms
Texas' Emerging Technology Fund, a $200 million initiative created by the Texas Legislature last year to fund early-stage businesses that want to commercialize technology researched at Texas universities, has awarded $6 million to four startup firms.
CardioSpectra, Inc., of San Antonio, received a grant of $1.35 million for the commercialization of a new type of catheter for heart attack victims; Xilas Medical, Inc., also of San Antonio, was given $1 million for the commercialization of three medical devices; Molecular Imprints of Austin was awarded $3 million for the commercialization of nanotechnology with applications to semiconductors; and CorInnova, Inc., of College Station, received $500,000 for the commercialization of a device that reduces the instances of congestive heart failure in patients who have suffered a severe heart attack.
Mark Ellison (pictured) is the director of the fund but a 17-member advisory committee of high-tech leaders, entrepreneurs and research experts review potential projects and recommend projects for funding. The emerging tech fund has three main areas of investment:
- Increasing research collaboration between public and private sector entities through new Regional Centers of Innovation and Commercialization where the seeds of an idea can take root in a university lab and eventually grow into a new product marketed by a new or expanding firm;
- Matching research grants provided by both federal and private sponsors to help innovators acquire the capital they need to bring their idea to life; and
- Attracting more top-notch research teams from other universities around the nation that will help put Texas universities on the cutting edge of technology research and development.
Texas teachers turning to technology
Teachers at Carrollton-Farmers Branch will be armed with an innovative but untraditional teaching tool next year: Apple iPods. Beginning in the fall, about a third of the district's 1,800 teachers will get the popular video and music devices for use in the classroom and to communicate with others in or outside the school, district officials said. The plan is to eventually equip all teachers in the district with the devices.
The goal is to find new ways to provide staff development for teachers so the district doesn't have to pull teachers out of classrooms for training, said Andy Berning, chief technology officer for the district. And there will be other more apparent benefits when the iPod is introduced to the classroom. "Every teacher will be able to give updates to parents, students and their colleagues through podcasts," Berning added. "We have great teachers with great ideas who were looking for ways to share them."
Many schools in Texas have cutting edge technology. And, almost all schools have some type of technology to assist teachers and students. According to the most recent statistics available, about 93 percent of Texas schools have Internet-connected computers in one or more classrooms. Texas often ranks above the national average for technology access, but many educators are intrigued by the possibilities of a portable education tool.
Teachers across the state are taking their lesson plans into the 21st Century by utilizing a variety of new educational tools, according to the Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA). Interactive instructional software programs, electronic lesson plans, hand-held response devices for answering test questions, and online textbooks are just a few of the choices available to educators. Some districts employ electronic whiteboards and projectors with interactive capabilities. In at least one Midland school, students will soon be answering the teacher's questions by clicking small hand-held devices, said elementary school teacher Donna Kelly.
Another trend: teachers are creating their own Web pages to provide information for students and parents, such as assignments and grades. E-mailing homework to the teacher is also becoming more prevalent.
"There is a real drive to incorporate technology in the classroom," said Holly Eaton, TCTA's director of professional development and advocacy. But, she adds, many teachers are constrained by the rigors of state-mandated tests. "There is such a focus on the testing that it puts constraints on the amount of time teachers have to branch out and try new teaching methods that technology may offer."
Brazos Valley considers RMA
The Brazos Valley Council of Governments is exploring the prospect of organizing a Regional Mobility Authority. Michael Parks, assistant executive director of the Brazos Valley COG, is on the verge of inviting all seven counties in the area to take part. Each member county would have a vote on future road projects, he said. Parks said a regional entity to head up large road projects is sorely needed because the use of state roads is up 95 percent and yet road capacity rose just 8 percent. An RMA could help the area attract more state funding for roads and it would also open up the possibility of utilizing toll roads.
Houston's Metro seeks land for unique station
Trains, buses, pedestrians and commuters of all types in Houston will have a centralized transit station downtown if Metro authorities can strike a deal with Union Pacific Railroad. The Metropolitan Transit Authority board this week voted to have staff negotiate the purchase of nine acres currently being used as a rail yard by Union Pacific.
Metro spokesman George Smalley said the agency wants to build what is known as an "intermodal" terminal. This would provide a home base for buses and pedestrians to connect with the Red Line and future light rail or Bus Rapid Transit on the planned North, East End and Southeast lines. The City of Austin has for years envisioned an intermodal station downtown but the idea has floundered due to lack of support for light rail.
On a related note, Cy-Fair commuters, just north of Houston, may soon have a new transportation option. The 290 Passenger Rail Coalition, created by the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, is advocating the creation of a rail line that will travel between the Texas Medical Center and Cy-Fair. "This is something that we have made a top priority," said Darcy Mingoia, Cy-Fair Chamber of Commerce president.
HHSC seeks public input on Coordinated Strategic Plan
HHSC is seeking public comment on its draft 2007-2011 Coordinated Strategic Plan. A series of eight public hearings started April 19 in Houston and five more are scheduled for May. A complete schedule of hearings is available online. The Coordinated Strategic Plan outlines goals, objectives and strategies for the five Texas health and human services agencies.
"All state agencies are required to prepare a strategic plan every two years," said Bill Campbell, associate commissioner for HHSC. "The health and human services agencies have an additional requirement - to develop a plan that coordinates strategies for all health and human services agencies. The public hearings give us a chance to make sure our plan addresses issues that are utmost on the minds of Texans."
After the public hearings wrap up at the end of May, the plan will be modified to reflect information collected at the hearings. The final document will be sent to Gov. Rick Perry, the Legislative Budget Board, legislative leadership and other legislative offices in early July.
TxDOT putting N. Texas drivers in fast lane
The North Central Texas Council of Governments and the Texas Department of Transportation are putting the finishing touches on a new type of express lane for Interstate 30, and they are planning similar lanes on 635, 183, and other major Metroplex roads. The new express lanes, which guarantee that traffic will never slow below 50 miles an hour, are known as "managed express lanes." Drivers pay an electronic toll and travel one way in the morning and the opposite way in the afternoon. If the 50 mile per hour guarantee isn't met, drivers will get a rebate.
Homeland Security Advisors Council organized
The nation's governors are creating a new, 50-state panel to give the states a single, and possibly more influential, voice on national plans to prepare for threats from terrorists and natural disasters. The Homeland Security Advisors Council hopes to resolve problems between the federal government and the individual states.
The council will work through the National Governors Association, with each governor appointing a top security official. The council will meet at least twice a year to share best practices and improve interstate communications. The formation of this group comes a month after a survey of state homeland security directors found widespread dissatisfaction with the way the federal government currently works with states.
Former UT leader now chairman of NRC
The U.S. Senate has confirmed a former vice chancellor of the University of Texas as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dale Klein, an aide to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who assists with nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, will replace retiring commissioner Nils Diaz. Klein was previously the executive director and chairman of the board of the Amarillo National Research Center.
"Dale Klein has a long history of public service, and most recently played a key role in the Pentagon's efforts to secure the nation from the threat of WMD," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. "He has deep ties to Texas and knows our state and its facilities well."
Texas universities band together for border initiative
A new research partnership has been formed to address diabetes, obesity and the nursing shortage along the South Texas-Mexico border. The new Borderplex Health Council is made up of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the University of Texas-Pan American, the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. All four institutions have agreed to invest $1 million next year toward projects targeting diabetes, obesity and nursing. Juliet V. Garcia, president of UT Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and chairwoman of the Borderplex Health Council, said the collaboration brings together the scientific and health research strengths of two of Texas' health science centers with the engineering and computer science capabilities of universities along the border.
The Borderplex Health Council is accepting requests for proposals from investigators at the University of Texas institutions for grants in the $25,000 to $50,000 range. Proposal forms can be obtained online. The deadline for the first round of proposals is Oct. 7, 2006.
TCEQ to launch online public forum
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on June 28 will launch a new initiative that will allow Texans to submit electronic comments on the agency's undertakings via the Internet. The TCEQ has environmental regulatory authority statewide in Texas. Individuals providing rulemaking comments through TCEQ's new online form will be subject to the same requirements used for public comment submissions, including providing a name and address. Written public comment will continue to be accepted by mail, courier, or fax.
"Public comment is a vital part of rulemaking," Commissioner Larry Soward said. "By providing an easily accessible online means to receive public comment, we hope to encourage additional participation in the process."
Four appointed to state conservation council
Gov. Rick Perry has announced the appointment of four people to the Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Council, which advises and assists the Land Commissioner with administration of the Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program. The appointees are: Houston lawyer Thomas R. Kelsey; R. Neal Wilkins of College Station, a wildlife biologist and associate director of Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources; Abilene attorney Glen David Webb; and Victoria businessman Bob McCan. These appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.
UTHSC-San Antonio obtains six state grants
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio said it received six Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology Program (ARP/ATP) awards recently from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Totaling more than $530,000, the awards were granted to six researchers for current studies that could lead to groundbreaking results in the health care arena.
"This is exceptional news for our institution," said Brian Herman, vice president for research at the Health Science Center. "We had a limit of 22 proposals that we could submit, and received 6 percent of the awards and 6 percent of the money." The ARP/ATP grants were created by the Texas Legislature in 1987 as competitive, peer-reviewed grants programs to fund scientific and engineering research projects of faculty members at Texas higher education institutions.
UTMB signs licensing deal with Austin firm
The University of Texas Medical Branch has signed a technology licensing agreement with an Austin-based medical device start-up company that ultimately could improve medical care and the university's revenues. The technologies licensed to the new company, Apollo Endosurgery, are expected to allow surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures on a wide variety of common health problems by inserting specially-designed endoscopes into a patient's mouth and making a small incision in the stomach to gain access to the organs in the peritoneal cavity. UTMB declines to disclose the financial implications of the licensing deal.
HHSC publishes stakeholders' Q&A
Questions and answers from the most recent Texas Health and Human Services Commission stakeholder forums have been updated and are now available online. To view the updated Q&As, scroll to the middle of the page and click on the Questions & Answers link in the bulleted list on the right hand side of the page. The search feature allows viewers to display all questions or search by keyword.
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$90M of homeland security funding coming to Texas
By Mary Scott Nabers, CEO of Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced this week that of the $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2006 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) awards, almost $90 million is coming to Texas.
The grants will enhance the ability of state and local officials to prepare for and respond to terrorist attacks and other disasters. HSGP funds can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, funds can be used for planning, organization, equipment, training, exercises, management, and administration costs.
This year's homeland security funds will come from five separate grant programs: State Homeland Security Grant Program, $544.5 million; Urban Areas Security Initiative, $757.3 million; Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program, $396 million; Metropolitan Medical Response System, $29.7 million; and Citizen Corps Program, $19.8 million.
Texas' share of the funding breaks down this way: $26 million from the State Homeland Security Grant Program; $24.7 million from the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program; $35 million from the Urban Areas Security Initiative; $3 million from the Metropolitan Medical Response System; and $1 million via the Citizen Corps Program.
In the coming months, Texas cities, counties, ports and regional councils of government will move from planning to procuring. Businesses that have fulfilled governments' security needs in the past - and those interested in presenting options for the future - should be making contact with the appropriate officials now.
To learn more about how individual regions in Texas plan to use this funding, watch for my regular columns later this month in the Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio business journals.
Click here to view recent articles on government procurement authored by Mary Scott Nabers, president and CEO of Strategic Partnerships Inc., and published in the Austin Business Journal and Houston Business Journal.
O'Hanlon leaving DARS
Mary Beth O'Hanlon, assistant commissioner for Early Childhood Intervention Services at the Dept. of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, is leaving that position today. She will be joining Northrop Grumman as manager of the Austin technical architecture and planning division.
State: No free fuel for hurricane evacuations
A plan to provide hurricane evacuees with free gas, which was unveiled to the public earlier this week, was incorrect and had not been approved by state emergency leaders. The plan was outlined by a Texas Department of Transportation representative at the Houston/Galveston Hurricane Workshop for about 500 people.
UT provost resigns
The executive vice president and provost at the University of Texas is leaving his job to return to the faculty in the Department of Sociology. Sheldon Ekland-Olson, who has been executive vice president and provost at UT since 1998, will return to the sociology department Aug. 31. UT President William Powers said the university will conduct a national search to find Ekland-Olson's successor.
NCTC Board renews president's contract
The board of North Central Texas College in Gainsville has extended for two years an employment contract with President Eddie Hadlock. Hadlock said he has a number of goals for the college, chief among them the refocusing of the attention of the governing board, the administration, the faculty and staff on what should always be their first and most important consideration in every action and decision-doing what is best for the students. Hadlock became president in March 2005.
One less fee on phone bills
The U.S. Treasury Department has decided to eliminate the 108-year-old excise tax on long-distance telephone service, effective July 31, 2006. The Internal Revenue Service will issue refunds for taxes collected on individuals' long-distance phone service over the past three years. The long-distance telephone tax began in 1898 as a "luxury" tax to be paid by those wealthy enough to own a phone.
| ONLINE POLL |
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Would you pay an above-average toll to drive in an express lane guaranteed not to slow below 50 mph?
(Non-scientific results next week)
Last week, after the Texas Transportation Commission agreed to increase the speed limit to 80 mph on some West Texas roads, 53 percent of respondents said speed limits on other roadways in Texas should also be increased. 47% said they should not be increased.
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| Ask the experts |
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Q: What are tuition revenue bonds, and how are Texas universities going to use them?
A: Tuition revenue bonds (TRBs) provide state colleges and universities with a unique source of funding for building or rehabilitating classroom facilities, laboratories and other academic infrastructure. The bonds are repaid through a revenue stream generated from tuitions and fees at the participating institutions. The result is cash today that will be repaid by future tuition and fee revenues, allowing institutions of higher education to complete vital facilities and projects on their respective campuses.
With rapid expansion of student enrollments in many colleges and universities across the state, many of those institutions are operating with space deficits. TRBs can provide a new funding source for those institutions to address this shortage of space. The bonds are sold on the open market, repaid with tuition and fee revenues when they mature, and are guaranteed by the state.
During the recently-completed Third Called Session of the 79th Texas Legislature, lawmakers approved the sale of $1.8 billion in TRBs for projects among some 50 campuses - from property purchases to rehabilitation projects to construction of classrooms, theaters and auditoriums. Click here to obtain descriptions of how each university intends to use TRB revenue.
-J. Lyn Carl,
Senior Consultant at Strategic Partnerships, Inc.
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