Harris County Hospital District
Encyclopedia
Harris County, Texas
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 4,092,459, White Americans made up 56.6% of Harris County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 33.0% of the population. Black Americans made up 18.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.7% of Harris County's population...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including the city of Houston. The entity's administrative offices are in Houston.
History
The Harris County Hospital District was created by voter referendum in November 1965 and formally came into being as a political subdivision with taxing authority on January 1, 1966. Its creation is largely attributed to the publication of Jan de HartogJan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.- Early years :...
's novel The Hospital, which described the horrific conditions of the Jeff Davis Charity Hospital. The new district replaced an existing city-county system in which the two governmental bodies shared funding responsibility.
A Hospital District is a governmental entity in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, established pursuant to the Texas Constitution
Texas Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Texas is the document that describes the structure and function of the government of the U.S. State of Texas.Texas has had seven constitutions: the constitution of Coahuila y Tejas, the 1836 Constitution of the Republic of Texas, the state constitutions of 1845,...
or the general statutes of Texas, and its purpose is to provide medical care to the needy residents of a particular county.
By 1989 the hospital had exceeded U.S. federal patient mortality rates for two years in a row; Ben Taub and Jefferson Davis were the sole Houston hospitals above their predicted mortality rates. Roger Widmeyer, the district spokesperson, said "We are a very unique [!] hospital because of the number of acutely ill patients we receive. We think the taxpayers understand that we handle a lot of sick people here. A lot of the people we treat don't come to the hospitals until they are very, very sick."
By 1990, when LBJ received an emergency room and Ben Taub received an emergency care facility, the district began to assign county residents to each hospital depending on zip code. Residents of northern areas in the county, including patients treated at Acres Home, Settegast, Bordersville and Baytown clinics were assigned to LBJ. Residents of southern areas, including patients at Casa de Amigos, Martin Luther King, Ripley House, Strawberry Road, and West End county clinics were assigned to Ben Taub.
Hospitals
Its two main hospitals serve approximately one million under-insured and uninsured people, nearly a quarter of the entire population of Harris County, the third most-populous county in the United States. Harris County includes Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States. Ben Taub General Hospital
Ben Taub General Hospital
Ben Taub General Hospital is a hospital located in Houston, Texas within the Texas Medical Center. Opening in May 1963, the hospital is owned and operated by the Harris County Hospital District and is staffed by the faculty, residents, and students from Baylor College of Medicine.Ben Taub is a...
is a level I trauma center with 650 licensed beds. It is located in the Texas Medical Center
Texas Medical Center
The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research...
, the largest medical complex in the world, and is staffed by faculty, residents
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...
, and students of Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine, located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, USA, is a highly regarded medical school and leading center for biomedical research and clinical care...
.
Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital is a 332 bed general hospital with a level 3 trauma center located northeast of Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston
Downtown Houston is the largest business district of Houston, Texas, United States. Downtown Houston, the city's central business district, contains the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is an extensive network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district...
. It is staffed by the faculty, residents, and students of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston was created by the UT System Board of Regents and supported by the Texas Legislature in 1972...
and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is one of the nation's original three comprehensive cancer centers established by the National Cancer Act of 1971. It is both a degree-granting academic institution and a cancer treatment and research center located at the Texas Medical Center in...
.
Quentin Mease Community Hospital has 25 beds for long-term physical rehabilitation and 24 beds in its geriatric services program. It is staffed by the faculty, residents, and students of Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine, located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, USA, is a highly regarded medical school and leading center for biomedical research and clinical care...
.
In August 2009 Memorial Hermann Hospital
Memorial Hermann Hospital
Memorial Hermann Healthcare System is the largest not-for-profit hospital system in Houston, Texas, and consists of 11 hospitals, 7 Cancer Centers, 3 Heart & Vascular Institutes, and 27 sports medicine and rehabilitation centers, in addition to other outpatient and rehabilitation centers. It was...
announced possible plans to sell its Southwest Hospital in Greater Sharpstown
Greater Sharpstown, Houston
Greater Sharpstown is a district in Houston, Texas, United States. The Greater Sharpstown Management District controls the area within the district. The district includes the Sharpstown subdivision, the portion of Chinatown inside Beltway 8, and other nearby subdivisions.-History:The Sharpstown...
to the Harris County Hospital District, which, if purchased would make the hospital its third general hospital. The county withdrew its bid in September 2009.
Clinics
Harris County Hospital District operates 12 Community Health Centers, a dental center, eight School-Based Clinics, 13 homeless shelter clinics and four mobile health clinics. These clinics offer primary care as well as a variety of specialty care such as psychiatry, dentistry, obstetrical/gynecological, podiatry, ophthalmology, pharmacy, psychiatry and counseling, laboratory and x-ray services, HIV/AIDS case management, and a variety of nutrition, health education and social services. Thomas Street Health Center was the first freestanding HIV/AIDS clinic in the United States, and today treats nearly a third of all HIV/AIDS patients in Harris County.
The clinics are staffed by UTHSC-Houston and BCM physicians, as well as countless nurses, clerks, and allied health professionals.
Community-based health care centers include:
- BaytownBaytown, TexasBaytown is a city within Harris County and partially in Chambers County in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. state of Texas. Located within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, it lies along both State Highway 146 and Interstate 10. As of 2010, Baytown had an population of 71,802...
: Baytown Health Center - Houston
- Acres Home Health Center
- Casa de Amigos Health Center
- El Franco Lee Health Center (opened on May 19, 2009)
- Gulfgate Health Center (opened on September 18, 2000)
- Martin Luther King Health Center
- Northwest Health Center (formerly the West End Health Center, opened 1974)
- People's Health Center
- Settegast Health Center
- Thomas Street Health Center
- HumbleHumble, TexasHumble is a city in Harris County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area.As of the 2000 census, the city population was 14,579. The city shares a zip code with the small Houston neighborhood of Bordersville, although people who live in Bordersville still have Humble...
: E. A. "Squatty" Lyons Health Center (opened 1991) - PasadenaPasadena, TexasPasadena is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Harris County, 17th-largest in Texas, and 162nd largest in the United States. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of Galveston....
: Strawberry Health Center - Unincorporated areaUnincorporated areaIn law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
s- Aldine Health Center
Prior to 1991 the county operated a clinic in the Bordersville
Bordersville, Houston, Texas
Bordersville is a predominantly African American community on Farm to Market Road 1960 in northeast Harris County, Texas, United States. The community, located less than one half-mile from George Bush Intercontinental Airport, has about 80% of its territory in the City of Houston and the rest in an...
area of Houston. In 1991 the Lyons Clinic opened and the county closed the Bordersville clinic. The county's Ripley clinic closed as a result of the opening of the Gulfgate clinic in 2000.
External links
- Harris County Hospital District Official Website
- County worried over decrease in patient load - Houston ChronicleHouston ChronicleThe Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
- March 27, 2008