By John Hawkins, President/CEO, THA   As the pandemic tapers off, the need for hospitals has not. With surges of respiratory illnesses inundating emergency departments, hospitals – and hospital workers – remain our most unwavering line of defense.   But even as hospitals continue to support their communities in the most urgent and visible ways – the ways everyone associates them with – we should keep in mind the more stealth impacts that hospitals make...

By John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association We’ve all heard about bad things coming in threes. It’s a superstition that has persisted across generations and cultures. Any time three catastrophes happen to fall on top of each other, some point to it as a product of that old adage. There’s no scientific evidence of its validity, of course. But this flu season, it’s very possible that one of those validating trios of unfortunate events could...

BY John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   As health care continues to sit at the front of the public consciousness – as it has since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – patients and providers alike continue to find themselves characters in a story as persistent as it is frustrating.   Generally, it goes something like this: Patients seek needed care. Hospitals and other providers pursue the required steps to deliver that care and...

BY John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   With no shortage of polarizing issues circulating in Texas right now, one thing is clear no matter your politics: Mental health is top of mind. The stress of an ongoing pandemic layered with racial tensions, school shootings, divisive abortion laws, and a turbulent economy have pushed behavioral health front and center.   It’s an unfortunate circumstance, and it’s clear that almost everyone is hurting in some way....

BY John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association The passage of time takes the sting out of painful memories. It’s a coping mechanism that allows us to move on from trauma and move forward with hope. As the pandemic moves toward second-page news, it’s hard to recall the early days of intense uncertainty, rapid-fire disease spread, school closures, mixed mask messages, travel bans, hand sanitizer rationing, and an abundance of panic as the country embarked on...

By John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   When the COVID-19 pandemic first took hold of the nation, legislation quickly passed that has allowed most Medicaid enrollees to maintain coverage during the ongoing public health emergency. The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act granted states an increase in federal Medicaid dollars as long as they paused disenrolling anyone from their Medicaid programs starting in March 2020. With the boost in Medicaid dollars Texas received, the...

BY John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association Health care workers have dealt with endless challenges in recent years, especially after two years of COVID-19 patient care and the resulting burnout and fatigue. As hospitals and health systems face severe staffing shortages, the burden on those workers remaining grows more profound. Amid the mounting pressure and strain, health care workers must contend with, one concern is entirely preventable and must be addressed in a comprehensive and...

By John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   Hospitals around the state are breathing a collective sigh of relief following the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ approval of three directed payment programs in late March. These vital DPPs raise reimbursement rates closer to the cost of providing care to Medicaid enrollees and amount to $5.3 billion a year in payment enhancements to Texas providers. But for nearly seven months, the programs were left pending...

By John Hawkins, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association Hospitals have grappled with health care workforce shortages long before the pandemic, but two years of providing COVID-19 care have strained provider resources and staff like never before. Health care workers serving on the frontlines of one COVID-19 variant surge after the next are profoundly burned out and exiting hospital employment in record numbers. Some are leaving the field altogether, while others are trading full-time work for more...