A Brief Explanation of the County Hospital Board
By Dr. Robert E. Grier
HCHD Board Member
HOUSTON COUNTY – This opinion piece was sent to The Messenger by Houston County Hospital District (HCHD) Board Member Dr. Robert Grier.
The Houston County Hospital District (HCHD) is responsible for facilitating hospital health care for the County. The nine (9) Board of Directors are elected on a rotating basis to serve for 2 years. Board members are not paid. The HCHD is a taxing entity of County Government.
The HCHD Board does not operate the Hospital. Mid Coast Health Systems assumed the five (5) year operating contract from Crockett Medical Center approximately 1.5 years ago. Mid Coast Medical Center of Crockett (MC MC) is the current operational name. MC MC provides the staff for the Hospital, charges for services and collects the insurance and government reimbursement monies.
This means that MC MC bills both Medicare and Medicaid for providing health care in Crockett. Both government programs are notorious for low reimbursement of charges, to the point that they do not cover the actual cost of care.
To help MC MC with this situation, HCHD gives MC MC Crockett a subsidy each month, so that the Hospital can operate. The State of Texas chose not to participate in expansion of the Federal Medicaid program, but instead established several programs to financially support Texas hospitals. One program is to help cover the costs of No Payment, Uncompensated, Indigent Care provided at the MC MC Emergency Room/Department. The Texas Dept. of Health and Human Services requires a County to “contribute” into the program one dollar ($1.00). Then the hospital (MC MC) receives two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50). While this arrangement makes one scratch their head, this is the program designed by our Texas Legislature. The program has been operational for 13 years.
The HCHD Board did not have extra funds to participate in this program. Out budget was committed. However, this program is too good to not participate. Therefore, the Board decided to take out a loan to make our contribution, which is legal with both the State and Federal authorities. This loan will be repaid by the Board over 12 months.
The Board cannot explain or justify this Texas program, but we cannot pass up the dollars for health care for Houston County. Board members are judiciously fiscally conservative. We scrutinize all expenditures, well aware that the monies we handle are tax dollars from our friends and neighbors. Yet our sworn responsibility is to facilitate health care/hospital services for Houston County. We understand that you elected us to perform on your trust. We are doing our best.
The current HCHD tax rate is $ 0.10 per $100 of valuation. Our expenses on a monthly basis include a subsidy for both the MC MC and for the Houston County Ambulance service. With other ancillary expenses, the current tax monies collected are all allocated. The Board decided to increase in the tax rate to $ 0.11 per $100 of valuation. This will allow the Board to further health care in Houston County.
HCHD Board meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at 5:30 pm in the MC MC Cafeteria. Time for public comments is allocated at every meeting.
Robert E. Grier, Ph.D. [email protected]
