2025 Healthcare Bills
Important Bills Currently Before the Texas Legislation 2025, which has ended.
Texas Forward supports the following bills as they are steps toward alleviating the health care crisis here in Texas.
1. HB 3794 (SB 1859) Left pending in committee
HB 3794 and the corresponding SB 1859 expand health care access by allowing nurse practitioners to act as licensed independent practitioners, and direct the Texas Board of Nursing to adopt rules to allow registered nurses to become Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), including licensing, educational and training requirements. APRNs are authorized to perform many more of the duties generally associated with primary care doctors, such as making diagnoses, diagnostic testing orders, providing treatment for health problems, prescribing a variety of therapy and therapeutic care, and making referrals. Providers are also given the choice to opt in or out of the current mandatory delegation framework. Additionally, these bills expand and strengthen medical price transparency measures by prohibiting physicians from billing at a higher rate for APRN's patient visits unless they personally see the patient and make a decision regarding their care during that visit. 27 states have already eliminated similar restrictions.
2. HB 2556 (SB 1232) Out of committee but no action
HB 2556 and its corresponding bill SB 1232 would eliminate additional fees that are thought to raise the costs of health care for individuals and state and private health insurance programs. They define “facility fees” and require providers to give patients 10 days notice before charging such fees and prohibit the charge of such fees for telehealth and preventative health services.
3. HB 541 Sent to the governor
HB 541 expands the direct patient care billing provisions of the Occupations Code to include any “health care practitioner” rather than just physicians, thus expanding the provider definitions to include such care providers as nurse practitioners.
4. SB 2093 In committee, no action
SB 2093 increases the numbers of care providers by expediting credentialing of certain federally qualified health care providers by managed care plan issuers and Medicaid managed care organizations.
5. HB 2641 In committee, no action
HB 2641 streamlines the patient care process by prohibiting health maintenance organizations from requiring preauthorization for certain health care services such as emergency care, intervention-necessary care, primary care, outpatient mental health care treatments. This not only benefits patients, but eliminates a common complaint by health care professionals, making Texas a more inviting state to care professionals and hospitals.
6. SB 2792 In committee, no action
Texas, like the rest of the country, lost many health care professionals, primarily nurses and nursing aides, during the Covid 19 pandemic. Since the pandemic, complaints of harassment and violence by patients toward these health care professionals has increased. In an effort to address one part of this issue, SB 2792 specifies criminality of harassing hospital personnel while the person is on hospital property, including prison hospitals, by causing that person to come in contact with any bodily fluids.
7. HB 4051 Left pending in committee
Texas Forward supports this bill as it extends the availability of care by allowing physicians to delegate the authority to order and provide or dispense limited prescription drugs
8. HB 3348 (SB 1578) Sent to the governor
In an effort to increase health care availability, HB 3348 and corresponding SB 1578 allow county health care provider institutions to provide care in counties that are not served by a hospital district, have a population of more than 900,000, and borders two counties with populations of two million or more.
9. HB 4799 (SB 2655) Out of committee but no action
In an effort to increase rural health care availability, HB 4799 and corresponding SB 2655 allow county health care provider institutions to provide care in counties that are not served by a hospital district or public hospital, have a population of more than 46,000 and less than 50,000, and is adjacent to a county containing a state capital.
10. HB 4622 In committee, no action
HB 4622 attempts to expand the pool of technology-based health care workers by requiring the Texas Education Agency to study students participating in certain career and technology fields, including those pertaining to healthcare, and evaluate the demand for such careers.
