State Agencies Undergo Sunset Review Process – Includes Agencies Both Big and Small
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been outlining Texas’ sunset review process. The agencies I have covered so far are the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners and the Texas Lottery Commission. As a reminder, in order to identify and eliminate government waste, duplication and general inefficiencies in state agencies, the Texas Legislature established the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission (Commission) in 1977. The sunset review process is designed to review each of these agencies every twelve years. This review is done by taking up a certain number of the state agencies each session when the Texas Legislature convenes.
While some of the agencies undergoing the sunset review process are rather large agencies, some of the agencies undergoing the process are also quite small. One such agency is the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee (CMHCC). The CMHCC was established by the Legislature to provide oversight and coordination authority for the distribution of health care services provided to inmates that are incarcerated with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The CMHCC works on behalf of TDCJ to contract for the health related services provided to individuals who are confined in one of the state’s incarceration facilities. In order to meet their goals, CMHCC manages a partnership which TDCJ has with the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC).
The mission of CMHCC is outlined on their site as follows: “The CMHCC’s mission is to develop a statewide managed health care network to address three key goals:
- providing TDCJ offenders with timely access to care consistent with correctional standards;
- maintaining a quality of care that meets accepted standards of care; and,
- managing the costs of delivering comprehensive health care services to a growing and aging offender population. “
CMHCC is established as a nine member committee. Three of the members of the committee serve as public members and are appointed by the Governor, two of these public members must be physicians. Two members are appointed by the Executive Director of TDCJ, one of these appointments must be a physician. Another two members are appointed by the President of UTMB, and one of these individuals must be a physician. The final two members are appointed by the President of TTUHSC and one of these appointments must be a physician. One of the physicians appointed to the committee is designated to serve as Chairmen of the committee by the Governor. The day-to-day operations of the CMHCC are handled by its Executive Director and three staff members.
If you are interested in learning more about the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee, you can go to their website at www.cmhcc.state.tx.us/index.htm . There will be more agencies to come, in the weeks. They will include the Railroad Commission of Texas, State Preservation Board, Board of Pardons and Paroles, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and a number of others.
