Perry also named four people to serve as non-voting ex-officio members of the Partnership, including Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins; Acting Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services Charles Bell; Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin; and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. All members will serve for a term at the pleasure of the governor.
"Ultimately, our goal is to improve patient safety and provide consumers with better care at a price more Texas families and small businesses can afford," Perry said. "The members of this partnership will assist in creating a more efficient and effective health care system in Texas by constructing the framework for the Texas Health Care System Integrity Authority."
In October, Gov. Perry issued an executive order that will lead to the creation of a new public-private collaborative, the THCSIA, in order to further efforts to create a secure electronic medical records system, arm consumers with the ability to comparison shop for health care and provide a more robust health insurance market for small employers.
The Partnership will work together during the next three months to develop the finance and governance structures for the THCSIA.
The Partnership will report its findings to the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house by March 1, 2007.
The appointees to the Partnership are: Ron Luke of Austin; Spencer Berthelsen, M.D., of Sugar Land; Fred Sinclair Brinkley Jr. of Austin; Kim A. Caldwell of McKinney; Marianne Fazen of Dallas; Audrey Gilbreath of Katy; Gary E. Goldstein, M.D., of Austin; Matthew J. Hamlin of Argyle; George B. Hernandez Jr. of San Antonio; Sing N. Lim of Sugar Land; Danny McCoy of Corsicana; Lisa McGiffert of Austin; J. Darren Rodgers of Dallas; Frederick Savelsbergh of Colleyville and Arthur Troilo III of Austin.
