Every two years, Texas hospitals get less than five months to convince state lawmakers how to foster a better health care landscape in the Lone Star State. The 2025 session of the Texas Legislature is offering the Texas Hospital Association and its member hospitals their latest opportunity to move health care forward.
For more on THA’s policy priorities and issues affecting hospitals as the 2025 session unfolds, visit THA’s White Papers & Reports webpage.
Texas Hospitals’ 2025 State Policy Priorities
Through several of the most difficult years they’ve faced in their history, Texas hospitals have continued operating around the clock, fulfilling the requirement to care for all Texans with emergency conditions regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.
Texas Hospitals’ 2025 Behavioral Health Priorities
Texas is facing a mental health crisis, and despite significant investments in behavioral health care, access to services remains a challenge for Texas’ growing population. A February 2023 analysis showed nearly 37% of Texas adults reported symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder, higher than the national average.
Insurance Should Cover Your Facility Fee
The “facility fee” covers the actual cost of care – anything and everything beyond the doctor bill, which is separate in Texas. A facility fee is how the hospital gets paid for services it provides in its outpatient departments.
The Value of Hospitals to the Community – and the Challenges They Face to Serve It
Hospitals are open to everyone. Hospitals exist to save lives and heal patients. They are open 24/7. Hospitals are the safety net for their communities and emergency departments are usually the front doors of hospitals.
Texas Hospitals Support a Full Behavioral Health Care Continuum in Medicaid
For behavioral health patients to make progress in their treatment, the whole continuum of care must be made available to ensure access to the right level of care at the right time. That means having services that range in levels of care to meet the needs of the patient.