CEO Messages

There is nothing more central to the mission of a hospital than saving lives. If you want our Texas Hospital Association to throw our support behind a bill, the quickest route to opening that discussion is to tell us that the bill will save lives, and then show us how.

There’s a lot of talk about government efficiency these days. Whether it’s in Washington, D.C., at the Texas Capitol or on your television, right now there’s no missing it. Much of it centers on financial concerns: whether our tax dollars are being used in a lean and worthwhile manner. But other times, realizing efficiency might be simpler than that; for…

Typically, policy disagreements we at the Texas Hospital Association have with other advocates involve reasonable minds presenting differing viewpoints with a credible basis. But here and there, it feels like we’re arguing against believers in a flat Earth – situations where we’re in the position of using settled, established science to fight junk science and dubious anecdotal information. Increasingly, that’s…

It’s not uncommon for the Texas Legislature to lay an unusual issue at our feet, something that’s never been a point of contention in our work at the Capitol. In the first days of the Legislature’s 89th session, which kicked off on Jan. 14, we find ourselves addressing something we don’t normally touch on with lawmakers: bollards. While “bollards” isn’t…

Figuratively, we in the health care world call it the “safety net”: the hospitals that care for vulnerable patient populations and the mechanisms that allow them to provide that care. But like any literal safety net, it has to be checked and reinforced in order to make sure it will still do the job it’s intended to do: serving Medicaid…

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.