Laying the Groundwork for 2025
In 2024, Texas hospital CEOs need to be engaged with THA like never before. A series of bills with devastating implications for hospitals found traction in the Texas Legislature’s 2023 regular session. These proposals included attempts to ban all hospital outpatient payments and institute government rate-setting. And, while none of them passed, the concepts at their cores, the rhetoric that drove them and their champions will likely be back for another try in 2025.
It’s time for hospitals to take even stronger action to protect their ability to serve their communities.
Brad Holland: Rallying for Texas Hospitals
Meet Brad Holland, president and CEO of Hendrick Health, THA’s 2024 board chair. “The No. 1 thing a hospital CEO can do in 2024 is prepare themselves and their team to get involved in the Texas Hospital Association and start working with them to get a collective voice and a strategy,” Holland said. “The most important thing for us to do is come together, engage and be in charge of our own destiny.”
Texas Hospitals in 2024: Reclaiming Reality
THA President/CEO John Hawkins details THA’s new effort to drive the conversation around hospitals in 2024, including correcting misinformation that ran rampant during the 2023 legislative session and rebuilding the public’s understanding of hospitals’ vital role in their communities.
Texas Hospitals: Invaluable – and Imperiled
Hospitals in Texas save lives and do so much more to help their communities thrive. But many of those same facilities face profound challenges that threaten their existence, raising the prospect of leaving communities without access to care.
Charity Care at Texas Hospitals
Anna Stelter, THA’s senior director of financial policy, explains why Texas’ charity care law is so strong, and notes Texas hospitals routinely exceed their obligation to provide that care to their communities.
Required Reading
The Texas Standard: Champions of Charity Care
Texas requires healthy amounts of support for those who can’t afford to pay for treatment. Its hospitals deliver all that support and more, setting a national standard for charity care and community benefits.
Texas Hospitals: Invaluable – and Imperiled
THA is quantifying the wide-reaching importance of its hospitals – and the many headwinds threatening to reduce or erase patient care in communities across the state.
Humanizing Health Care: Telling the Hospital Story
Texas hospitals are striving to redefine the industry narrative, shedding light on the humanity that exists in the health care system.
Texas Hospitals are Reclaiming Reality in 2024
How Texas hospitals were portrayed as the source of health care’s ills during 2023 – and how THA plans to set the record straight in the coming year.
Resources to Get Started
Charity Care and Community Benefit in Texas: Frequently Asked Questions
Charity care is free or discounted care for patients who are unable to pay. Patients qualify for charity care by demonstrating financial hardship according to the criteria in a hospital’s charity care or financial assistance policy.
The Checklist
THA’s Checklist for Texas Hospital Leaders offers quarter-by-quarter guidance uniquely tailored to member hospital CEOs to help them navigate their role in THA’s efforts. Hospital CEOs who have questions about the checklist can contact THA Communications at [email protected].
Mastering Media Relations: Essential Tips for Hospital Leaders
How hospital leaders can leverage media attention to shape public perception and health care policy.
THA’s Testimony Tips
Here’s how Texas’ health care leaders can make their voices heard in the legislature.
Show and Tell: Hosting a Lawmaker at Your Hospital
Here’s THA’s guide to arranging a tour of your facility with a member of the Texas Legislature.
Social Media Marketing for Rural Hospitals
A simple framework by rural hospital marketers for hospitals with limited bandwidth and budget for social media marketing.
Contacts
Advocacy: Mackenzie Watson, Advocacy Coordinator, [email protected]
Communications: [email protected]
Carrie Kroll, Senior Vice President, Advocacy & Public Policy, [email protected]
Carrie Williams, Chief Communications Officer, [email protected]
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