State agencies that focus on health services and other issues are already working on developing their budget requests for the 2027 session of the Texas Legislature.
To help inform their budget request, we recently submitted three recommendations to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
You can download a PDF of our recommendations to DSHS or read them below.
We urge the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to consider the following recommendations as it develops its Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) for Fiscal Years 2028-2029:
1) We recommend sustaining funding to enable the Maternal Mortality & Morbidity Review Committee (MMMRC) to adopt effective policies that align with MMMRCs across the nation.
In conjunction with policy recommendations from the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Texans Care for Children recommends consistent funding to enable the MMMRC to:
- access comprehensive case information, including family and informant interviews;
- thoroughly review maternal deaths, including those considered pregnancy related and pregnancy associated;
- continuously cultivate a diverse and bipartisan committee with representation of committee experts including community members;
- identify cases within one year of death, reviewing within two years, and reporting within three years;
- identify disproportionally represented populations within case cohorts; and
- adopt the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s standardized format for reporting Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA) completing “Contributing Factors and Recommendations for Action,” for every pregnancy-related case.
2) We recommend increasing funding to strengthen and expand the Texas AIM initiative to reduce preventable death and improve outcomes for women and children.
Texans Care for Children recommends increased funding to strengthen the Texas AIM initiative by expanding the work of the Opioid and Substance Use Disorders bundle. Hospital-based interventions including the Eat, Sleep, and Console model and Kangaroo Care improve outcomes and reduce costs. In addition, Texans Care for Children recommends that Texas AIM be funded to expand efforts to prevent the current leading cause of maternal mortality improving identification, care, and data reporting for sepsis.
3) We recommend maintaining funding for Help Me Grow, which builds statewide early childhood systems and promotes optimal child development.
Texans Care for Children recommends maintaining funding for programs that build statewide early childhood systems and promote optimal child development through early identification of developmental delays and education.
