The Texas e-Health Alliance is proud to be the leading e-health advocacy organization in Texas.  Over the course of 2012-2013, our members were able to make our presence known, both nationally and across the state, as a trusted resource for education, information, networking, and advocacy.   If these activities are something you want to be a part of, click here to become a member!

Legislative Activities

TeHA actively worked in support of a number of bills during the 2013 session of the  Texas Legislature:


  • SB 7 (Nelson/Raymond)- Medicaid delivery and quality reforms, including managed care expansion for long term care  


  • SB 149 (Nelson/Keffer)- Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) reform bill


  • SB 1367 (Duncan/Smithee)- winds down the risk pool at TDI, and provides THSA with $5 million dollars in bridge funding


  • SB 1609 (Schwertner/Kolkhorst)- clarifications to the training provisions of the Texas Medical Records Privacy Act


  • SB 1610 (Schwertner/Kolkhorst)- State level breach notification clarifications regarding out of state patients


  • SB 1643 (Williams/Alvarado)- includes the changes needed to allow HIEs to access the prescription drug monitoring program at DPS


  • HB 1133 (Otto/Estes)- sales tax exemption for telecom manufacturing

National Partnerships


  • Served as co-host for a visit to Texas by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Coordinated and participated in ONC stakeholder listening sessions as part of the visit.  


  • Sponsored the “Texas Huddle” at the HIMSS National Conference, which is the premier all-Texas networking event on the national scene.


  • Worked to advance research and standards as a Platinum Member of the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC).


  • Collaborated on national policy and regulatory issues with HIMSS, Continua Alliance and American Telemedicine Association.


  • Met with delegates from France and Singapore to discuss telemedicine delivery strategies.

Networking and Events


  • Local sponsor for 2012 and 2013 Institute for Health Technology Transformation HIT Summits in Austin.  


  • Local host for American Telemedicine Association 2013 Annual Conference in Austin.


  • Cosponsored “Information Security: How to Effectively Shepherd Patient Data” event with Texas State University.


  • Collaborated on national policy and regulatory issues with HIMSS, Continua Alliance and American Telemedicine Association.


  • Produced free webinars for Texas stakeholders on HIE sustainability and on the relationship between HIEs and accountable care organizations.

Partnerships with Academic Programs


  • Continued to support our HIT program at the University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences. Thanks to the program’s industry-needs-centered curriculum and significant donations of hardware, software, time, and knowledge from TeHA members and the university faculty, over 400 students from this program have been hired by industry and providers almost immediately upon graduation.


  • Worked with Texas State University-San Marcos to complete the nation’s only HIT-specific employer workforce study. Texas is the only state with state-level workforce data which will help our programs train the right staff for the right jobs.


  • Supported a successful HRSA grant application submitted by Texas Tech that established a Texas-Louisiana Telehealth Resource Center.

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