Legislative Updates
Welcome to our new HLATX Legislative webpage! Along with our efforts to keep our members informed of impacting legislation, we encourage participation among our members to educate their state and federal legislators on the issues which affect physician reimbursement and healthcare regulations which potentially adversely affect or improves patients' access to care in our state.
State Updates
Healthcare Leaders Association of Texas (HLATX) partners with the Texas Medical Association (TMA) and some of our county medical societies to inform members of issues affecting our medical practices in our state. This Session year, Texas’ 89th Legislature, we provided testimony with TMA in Austin for the “Gold Card (prior auth) Clean Up” bill which passed and was signed by Governor Abbott at the end of May, effective September 1, 2025.
TMA Advocacy and Action Alerts Portal
TMA State and Federal Legislative News
Key Medical Practice and healthcare legislation Passed in 2025:
- House Bill 3812: Streamlines 2021’s “Gold Card” eligibility, improves transparency, and enhances state oversight.
- Senate Bill 922: Allows a 3-day delay for sensitive test results to be disclosed to patients by electronic means, meaning physicians can first communicate those results instead of an automated release from patient portals.
- Senate Bill 5: Creates the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which will conduct research on dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and other related conditions, modeled after CPRIT (subject to voter approval).
- House Bill 18: Enhances access to rural healthcare through various programs and services, including targeted grant and telehealth programs.
- House Bill 37: Focuses on perinatal palliative care.
- Senate Bill 31: Clarifies timing and applicability for the medical emergency exceptions to the state’s abortion prohibition, "Life of the Mother Act.”
- House Bill 1586: Allows for downloading vaccine exemption forms at home, still must be notarized.
- Senate Bill 1188: Addresses access to electronic health records, including provisions related to a minor's access.
- Senate Bill 815: Prohibits insurers from using AI to make adverse determinations on prior authorizations
- House Bill 3749: Defines elective IV therapy and physician supervision, delegation, and prescribing provisions.
- Senate Bill 207: Allows excused absences from public schools for certain students to attend mental health care appointments.
- House Bill 149: Provides for consumer protections and enforcement mechanisms regarding AI, innovation testing, and disclosures of AI use in health care.
- Senate Bill 1266: Assist Medicaid providers with enrollment and credentialing processes with dedicated support and improved notifications.
- House Bill 2254: Allows PPOs and EPOs to enter into voluntary value-based care arrangements with primary care physicians or groups.
- House Bill 26: Allows Medicaid MCOs to offer nutrition support services in lieu of other services if medically appropriate and cost-effective.
- House Bill 3151: Expedites credentialing for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC’s).
- House Bill 3940: Improves Medicaid enrollment notification to parents of newborns.
- Senate Bill 1378: Strikes a balance on non-compete agreements for physicians with one year time limit and 5-mile geographic scope.
“This has been one of the most successful legislative sessions. But we are not done. Now is the time to talk to our legislators about issues impacting patient care and practice viability so we are even more prepared next session. That’s going to make Texas safer and stronger with physician-led care.” - Ray Callas, MD, immediate past president
Resources: TMA Advocacy, Norton Rose Fulbright law firm
Federal Updates
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)
The OBBBA was signed into law on July 4, 2025. It was passed by the House and Senate as part of the budget reconciliation process for the 2025 fiscal year. The bill was passed by the Senate on July 1, by the House on July 3, and signed into law by President Trump on July 4.
Several analyses and presentations on the immediate 2025 into 2026 calendar years, as well as expected 2027, 2028 and beyond impacts on healthcare have been performed since July 4 – there is a lot to unpack and figure out next steps with this new bill: from ACA marketplace plans across all states, to Medicaid, to Medicare, and provider taxes and federal taxes. Most notably in Texas, at the end of this calendar year, 2025, ACA marketplace plan subsidies will end and approximately 4 million Texans enrolled in ACA marketplace plans will be looking at an average “gross” rate hike of 31% starting January 1, 2026. (Charles Gaba, healthcare data analyst)
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that 26% of ACA consumers would lose subsidies = 5.1 million more uninsured, this will cost $275 billion over 10 years, and political implications in states such as Florida, Texas, Georgia, where marketplace enrollment has doubled since 2020.
Detailed Resource:
HLA August Monthly Webinar: Michael Bertaut, Healthcare Economist - DOWNLOAD SLIDES
Members Can Access the On-Demand Webinar via the Members Only Area
Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)
A “temporary bump” in 2026 only, under the OBBBA, for Medicare payments to physicians. (TMA, July 2025)
“CY 2026 Medicare PFS Proposed Rule: What Providers Need to Know” – a concise summary from telehealth, to the conversion factor, to MSSP, to Practice Expense methodology, to behavioral health, to skin substitutes and more. (Hooper, Lundy & Bookman Health Law Firm, Washington D.C.)
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Federal Legislative Links
United States House of Representatives
Find & Write to your Congressional Representative
Are You Interested in Serving on the Texas HLA Legislative Committee?
Contact our office at admin@hlatexas.com