Texas Legislative UpdateJune 2025
The 89th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature concluded with significant developments for emergency medicine, public health, and healthcare delivery. Marked by major policy wins for Republican leadership, the session also featured targeted efforts to improve access to care, address mental health crises, and reform health insurance practices. Mental health remained a top priority, with SB 1164 streamlining emergency detention protocols to ease burdens on law enforcement and emergency rooms. However, broader efforts to grant paramedics the ability to initiate emergency detention holds without waiting on law enforcement in mental health crises stalled, highlighting limits to legislative appetite for systemic change. Insurance regulation and transparency were key areas of focus. HB 3812 bolstered Texas’s “gold card” law, making prior authorization more efficient for physicians. In response to the rising use of artificial intelligence by health insurers, SB 815 prohibits the use of AI algorithms as the sole factor in denying or modifying care. It also authorizes the Texas Department of Insurance to audit plans using AI for utilization review. Meanwhile, HB 138 creates a new Health Impact, Cost, and Coverage Analysis Program at the University of Texas Health Science Center to study the fiscal and public health implications of health insurance mandates - signaling a broader intent to scrutinize the downstream effects of healthcare policy on affordability and access. Physician protections advanced through SB 1318, which places new limits on non-compete clauses and allows greater continuity of care. Meanwhile, efforts to expand independent practice for advanced practice registered nurses—HB 3794 and SB 3055—were unsuccessful, preserving current scope-of-practice standards that physicians had concerns about. The Texas College of Emergency Physicians and its allies will likely continue advocating for these priorities in the interim and into the 90th Legislative Session. In a healthcare landscape increasingly shaped by legislative policy, emergency physicians remain essential voices for ensuring safe, effective, and patient-centered emergency care. |
