Key Initiatives

• Access to Health Care

  The availability of affordable, quality medical care is important to all Texans.  Governor Perry has led efforts to keep doctors and other health care professionals in the exam room instead of in the courtroom fighting frivolous lawsuits.  He has also promoted reforms to the small employer health insurance market, and conveyed a vision for reducing the number of uninsured Texans by restructuring federal Medicaid funding to gain flexibility and optimize investments in health care.  This reduces reliance on expensive emergency room visits for non-emergent care, and makes it easier for the working poor to buy into employer-sponsored health coverage.

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• Aging Texas Well/Texercise

  The Aging Texas Well (ATW) program helps to ensure that Texans prepare individually for aging in all aspects of life and that state and local infrastructure— laws, policies, and services — support aging well throughout Texans’ lifespans.

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• Cancer Research Initiative

  Proposed by Governor Perry in his 2007 State-of-the-State Address and passed by the legislature, Texas established a $3 billion, 10-year cancer research investment initiative. On November 6, 2007, Texas voters approved Proposition 15, the constitutional amendment that allows the State of Texas to establish the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and allows the issuance of $3 billion in general obligation bonds as funding for the initiative. 

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• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

  As Lieutenant Governor in 1999, Governor Perry helped establish the Children’s Health Insurance Program to provide health insurance benefits for low-income children. Since then, Governor Perry has worked with legislators to ensure the program helps those most in need while maintaining accountability and responsibility to the taxpayers who fund it. Today, nearly 400,000 Texas children receive state-funded health coverage through CHIP.  The CHIP benefit package is comparable to many private insurance plans and covers services like regular health check-ups, immunizations, hospital care, surgery, x-rays, prescription drugs, emergency services, transplants, and mental health, vision, and dental services.
  

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• Disability Initiatives

  Gov. Perry has worked to expand opportunities for the estimated four million disabled Texans who live and work in our state. He has supported increased funding for health and disability-related research, increased handicapped accessibility to buildings and the exchange of electronic information, improved assistance for people with disabilities during emergencies and increased opportunities for the disabled to live in community-based settings.
  

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• Electronic Medical Records

  Governor Perry supports greater use of technology to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of the Texas health care system.
  

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• Governor’s Advisory Council on Physical Fitness

  Concern about the health of Texans, Governor Perry created the Governor’s Advisory Council on Physical Fitness (GACPF) in 2001 to advise him on matters related to physical fitness, sports, health and nutrition education, and exercise.  At the suggestion of GACPF members, Governor Perry worked with legislators to pass funding for the development of local physical fitness councils. This legislation directed the Texas Department of State Health Services to annually make $400,000 in general revenue available to GACPF to provide grants to local mayors’ councils for the development and implementation of wellness and fitness programs in communities across the state. 

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• Health Care Policy Council

  The Health Care Policy Council was established in 2005 through House Bill 916 to research, analyze and provide recommendations on ways to improve the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system in Texas.  Composed of senior executives from the state’s health and human services agencies and six systems of higher education, the Council is also designed to ensure greater coordination and collaboration on health information technology, workforce, purchasing and other health care system issues.
  

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• Immunizations

  In 2003, Gov. Perry issued an executive order giving the Texas Department of State Health Services, [formerly the Texas Department of Health (TDH)], the authority to fast track a comprehensive plan to increase children’s immunization rates in Texas.  Through this order, he directed the department to improve the policies and outreach programs to help more Texas children receive protection from vaccine preventable diseases. Since these reforms were enacted, Texas has reached a record immunization rate for young children. In 2006, Texas met the Healthy People 2010 goal of 90 percent or higher for five out of six measured vaccines, marking the best showing since the survey began in 1995.
  

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• Medicaid Reform

  In his 2007 State-of-the-State address, Governor Perry set forth his vision for reducing the number of uninsured Texans by restructuring federal Medicaid funding. His plan increased flexibility and optimized investments in health care by reducing the reliance on expensive emergency room visits for non-emergent care, and made it easier for the working poor to buy into employer-sponsored health coverage. Additionally, Governor Perry’s reform plan provided assistance for enrollment in private insurance and employer-sponsored plans, created tailored benefit packages for children with special health care needs, promoted consumer choice through health savings accounts and consumer directed services, rewarded healthy lifestyle behaviors with health care incentives, and set a cost-sharing base for non-emergency use of emergency departments.
  

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• Mental Health Transformation

  In 2005, to address the state’s fragmented mental health care system, Gov. Perry directed the Texas Department of State Health Services to apply for the federal Mental Health Transformation State Incentive Grant (MHT SIG) in order to fund comprehensive reformation efforts. In October 2005, Texas was awarded a five-year MHT SIG grant and has since embarked on transforming our state’s mental health services infrastructure by emphasizing the need for a coordinated and consumer-driven delivery system By collaborating with stakeholders and statewide agencies, Texas is working to build a mental health care system that will support efficient and innovative treatment options, cultivate patient recovery, improve service coordination, and enhance the quality of life for mental health patients, regardless of age or diagnosis.
  

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• Own Your Future, Texas

  The Own Your Future Campaign is a joint federal-state initiative, launched by the federal government in Jan. 2005 to increase awareness about long-term care planning. Since Gov. Perry launched the Texas campaign in Oct. 2006, awareness of the need to plan for long-term care has risen significantly. 

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• Texas Round Up

  In 2004, Governor Rick Perry launched the Texas Round-Up statewide fitness initiative and 10/5K race, held annually in Austin, to motivate and encourage Texans to become more active and incorporate healthy choices in their daily lives. The Round-Up includes an online training program and fitness festival.  Cities, state agencies, organizations, businesses and groups of friends compete to become the fittest in the state by logging 30 minutes of physical activity at least five days per week for six weeks. At the completion of the six-week training program, Governor’s Challenge Awards are given to the various cities, state agencies, schools, social organizations, families and friends that have the highest participation per capita in their respective categories.
  

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• Trauma Care Improvements (2003)

  During the 78th Legislative session, Gov. Perry supported and signed into law House Bill 3588, which created a new Designated Trauma Facility and Emergency Medical Services Account for the purpose of supporting trauma facilities, emergency medical services (EMS) firms, and EMS/ trauma systems.  The distribution of these trauma funds has helped ensure that Texans have access to the health care they need in an emergency.  At the program’s inception, 188 hospitals in 133 counties agreed to meet the standards necessary to become a designated trauma center.  Three years later, 245 hospitals agreed to meet the trauma standards, covering 160 counties and giving Texans access to better emergency care when they need it most.
  

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