TMA EVPGram

Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Commissioner David Lakey, MD, met with TMA senior staff and me to review the department’s critical budget reductions and several key policy issues. We discussed Dr. Lakey’s vision for the future of DSHS for the next couple of years, pending rules on hospital licensure and health care worker vaccinations, and the still contentious problems with the state’s electronic death registry. We talked about cutbacks at local health departments and explored the potential consequences of the new state budget to physicians and patients. Dr. Lakey will give a budget presentation to the TMA Board of Trustees later this month along with Jason Terk, MD, chair of the Council on Science and Public Health.