THCA Notes

Volume XXXI, Number 9
September 2016

THCA Members Begin Outreach to Legislators

An aggressive outreach to Texas legislators has been launched as the 85th Legislative Session nears.

About 75 members were identified who have relationships with legislators. Those included administrators who had welcomed legislators visit their facilities since the last session.

These members were invited to participate in one of three teleconferences at the end of August.

Those who took part on the calls were given a briefing on the effort and THCA’s legislative priorities by THCA President/CEO Kevin Warren and Director of Government Relations Scot Kibbe.

Participants are now contacting their legislators to set up meetings during the month of September.

At these meetings, they will discuss the difficult environment faced by nursing facility providers and how the Legislature can help when the next session begins in January. They will leave lawmakers with a THCA brochure on the State of Long Term Care that describes these problems and their solutions.

It is intended that other contacts with the members will follow before the end of the year.

Warren believes the contacts are vital to the success of THCA during the next legislative session.

“Legislators need to hear about how long term care in this state is underfunded and overbedded and how that can be fixed,” he said. “The best people to deliver those messages are constituents who the legislators know and who can explain the impact of long term care in their district. With this outreach, we can get the right messenger with the right message to legislators before the next session starts.”

If you would like information about how to contact your legislator, write Scot Kibbe, THCA Director of Government Relations, at skibbe@txhca.org.