CEO Messages

We’re now past the general election, and Texans across the state have cast their ballots, laying the foundation for the 89th Texas Legislature. We now know who will hold the 181 seats at our Capitol, meaning we’re one step closer to determining the next chapter of health care in Texas.

It’s a tricky thing to set up any program – government-run or otherwise – to attack big health care problems on a grand scale. A lot of factors come into play to make such a program work, and once you’ve found the right formula, it’s important to make sure any tweaks won’t dilute its quality – or worse, render it…

Earlier this month, the Governor’s Task Force on Health Care Workforce Shortages held its final meeting ahead of a report it’s scheduled to issue by Oct. 1. The task force is aimed at addressing workforce shortages in our industry, identifying additional pathways to grow our supply of needed professionals and removing existing barriers in the state’s health educational programs. Here…

The impact of behavioral health confronts us all, whether it’s ourselves, a family member or a friend who’s struggling with anxiety or depression. With boosts to payment and coverage, and further building on the behavioral health infrastructure gains we made in 2023, we can begin to turn the page on the psychological impacts of the pandemic and make Texas happier and healthier.

Unbelievably – to me, at least – the second half of 2024 is upon us. We’re now less than six months from another session of the Texas Legislature that promises massive implications for hospitals and health care. And this month, our fight enters a new phase.

Coverage is a constant focus of ours here at the Texas Hospital Association, and for good reason: Insurance coverage is paramount to patient care and keeping Texans healthy, and our state has the highest uninsured population in the country. In our minds, it’s never a bad time to talk about it.

Texas hospitals are mission-driven organizations dedicated to healing patients. However, they are also businesses that have to worry about their financial health – which is not guaranteed. And unlike any other business, cutting off a vital source of operating revenue will lead to devastating consequences for the health of the communities they serve.

Everyone needs and deserves medical care. Texas hospitals understand that as well as anyone. And in a state with the country’s highest uninsured rate, where charity care and indigent care are a fact of life – from the Panhandle to Port Isabel, from El Paso to Houston – our hospitals fulfill that need.

Every piece of financial certainty our hospitals can get these days is appreciated – especially for the facilities that treat the most vulnerable Texans. For the rest of this year, at least, our safety-net hospitals have a sense of certainty that’s been a long time coming.

It seems that every month, the threat becomes greater and greater for hospitals across the country: the possibility that bad actors can disrupt the hospital’s operations – or effectively bring them to a halt – without the offenders leaving their couch.