A Major Supreme Court Ruling On The Electoral College, And A Conversation With Texas Congressman Michael Burgess Read More »

An industry group is concerned over the Federal Trade Commission’s changes to the Contact Lens Rule that permit computer-generated phone calls to verify prescriptions and require more stringent documentation for prescription release. The Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety said in a press release that it will continue to work with Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Congressman Michael C. Burgess, MD (R-Texas) to pass the Contact Lens Prescription Verification Modernization Act, or HR 3975, to protect patients. Rush said in the release that HR 3975 would correct the “outrageous loophole” o... Read More »

July 2, 2020 Dear Friends, This Independence Day weekend, as you relax and reflect, please take the proper precautions to protect your family and yourself from COVID-19. Social distancing, wearing a mask, and staying home if you are sick are little things that can make a big difference in slowing the spread. If you need access to a COVID-19 test, there are several locations across Texas. National Updates The Trump Administration reestablished the Ready Reserve Corps as part of the U.S. Public Health Service to help improve our public health preparedness and response. This action is thanks to ... Read More »

The overwhelming majority of Americans signing up for new online products and services check the box confirming they have read and agree to the Terms of Service without ever opening the document. As consumers, we know these terms are important, but we breeze through them on our way to accessing the latest social media or online content. Why don’t people read Terms of Service, also called Terms and Conditions or Terms of Use? What are we missing when we simply check the box without reading them? What are Terms of Service? Terms of Service agreements are contracts between a service provider and ... Read More »

by Kerry Dooley Young Several federal lawmakers on June 30 questioned state policies that require disclosure of mental health treatment as part of medical licensing applications and renewals, citing concerns about creating barriers to psychiatric care for clinicians. Mental health–related questions on state medical boards’ licensing applications are especially worrisome with many clinicians, including ED staff, immersed in the physical and emotional challenges involved in treating waves of people with COVID-19, lawmakers said during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s health... Read More »

by Joyce Frieden WASHINGTON -- The House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing Tuesday on bills to address the mental healthcare crisis was generally very collegial except for a turf war that broke out between the psychiatrist and the psychologist who testified before the subcommittee. The discord came over H.R. 884, known as the Medicare Mental Health Access Act -- a bill sponsored by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) that would treat clinical psychologists as physicians when it came to providing clinical psychology services to Medicare ... Read More »

by R.A. Schuetz Houston hotels are not expected to return to pre-pandemic revenue levels until 2024, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE. Some may not make it that long. The American Hotel and Lodging Association predicts the industry is facing "massive foreclosures of thousands of hotel properties" across the nation, according to a press release sent out Wednesday. "With a sharp decline in travel demand, nine times worse than September 11 and with lower room occupancy than during the Great Depression, our small business owners are struggling to survive," Chip Rogers, the association... Read More »

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, stressed the importance of addressing mental health in his opening remarks. As Prepared for Delivery: Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate your willingness to work on a productive, bipartisan agenda for this subcommittee and respect of my request for a hearing on mental health and coronavirus. This was a topic that we were slated to address prior to the outbreak but has become even more serious. The human loss, job ... Read More »

June 30, 2020 Dear Friends, Mental health has become an even more important public health issue as this coronavirus continues to impact our lives – one-third of Americans have felt that this pandemic has seriously affected their mental health. Today, the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health honored my request to hold a hearing on this important issue. This hearing examined 22 bills, including one that I introduced alongside Rep. Drew Ferguson addressing mental health in schools. Other topics included suicide prevention, telehealth services, and addressing mental health among underserved... Read More »

by Ripon Advance News Service U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) on June 25 proposed legislation that would prohibit franchising authorities from requiring approval for the sale of cable systems. “In 2020, Americans should not be limited by franchise restrictions when choosing broadband services,” Rep. Burgess said. “This legislation will increase competition by getting rid of regulations that are not keeping up with how consumers access cable and Internet services.” Rep. Burgess sponsored the Consumer Access to Broadband for Local Economies and Competition Act, also known as the CABLE Competiti... Read More »