By Ted Shaw, THA president/CEO   Public health emergencies and disasters often are defined by their impact on human health. When Hurricane Harvey dumped 50 inches of rain in the Houston area and forged a path of destruction across the Texas Gulf Coast in 2017, 20 hospitals were forced to close or evacuate. More than 5,300 Texans were cared for during both the rescue and recovery efforts. The storm displaced hundreds of thousands of Texans...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association The word hero means something different for everyone. Some may think of fictional characters like Superman. Other, real life heroes may come to mind, such as military personnel and professional athletes. Today, when people think of heroes, they should think of the nearly 400,000 Texans who are on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. Our brave health care workers do not wear capes, they wear scrubs and...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association Texas hospitals share a mission to protect the health of Texas. When challenges arise, health care providers and public health officials must be strong partners and work together. COVID-19 is a significant challenge for Texas, and we must remain diligent, informed and collaborative.   Health officials agree that more cases are expected to be confirmed in the United States. While it’s impossible to predict exactly how the disease...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association If there was ever a critical time to put a stake in the ground for Texas health care, it’s now. It’s a new year. There are major elections around the corner that will have a significant impact on health care. Plus, it’s a Census year, with the federal government launching its once-a-decade official calculation of the country’s population and demographics. Health care is one of the most important...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   With the start of a new year and a new decade, we reflect on our past achievements and challenges, and look forward to the promise of a new year. It’s an opportunity for a new beginning and a more refined focus. We take stock and plan new courses of action to better our lives, with resolutions to eat better, exercise more, and reduce stress. Texas hospitals, too,...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   In a world of rapid change, the foundational stability of a business is critical to its survival. A solid financial foundation to support organizational agility and resilience is critical when serious matters such as health — and life — are involved. What if you could not rely on the stability of your local ambulance or fire service?   By the same token, instability tends to have a...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association From October 2018 to September 2019, a coalition of health care providers in southeast Texas surpassed its goal of reducing patients’ glycated hemoglobin levels, an important marker of how well a person is managing their diabetes. With funding from the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program through Texas’ Medicaid 1115 Waiver, local hospital emergency departments, community paramedics, the local health department, a federally qualified health center and social...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association All hospitals are unified under the core mission of providing the highest quality care to all their patients. But more and more, Texas hospitals and their counterparts across the nation are being asked to do more with less: compete on price and improve the quality of care while facing sweeping reimbursement cuts. Hospitals’ ability to deliver on their promise is in jeopardy as they face an increasingly uncertain...

BY Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   Measles ranks as one of the leading causes of childhood mortality in the world. Prior to the availability of the measles vaccine, measles cases were estimated at 130 million a year. Despite the progress made in measles control with the introduction of measles vaccination, it is estimated that nearly one million deaths from measles still occurred in 1997. And outbreaks of measles continue to occur even in...

By Ted Shaw, President/CEO, Texas Hospital Association   As the health care landscape has continued to evolve, health care consumers have been asked to bear a larger share of the costs of their health care–whether because of high-deductible health plans or increased cost-sharing requirements. As a result, patients’ interest in the amount they pay for health care services has increased, and Texas hospitals have been at the forefront of providing meaningful price transparency.   Although...