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The Harris Health System, previously the Harris County Hospital District (HCHD), is a governmental entity with taxing authority that owns and operates three hospitals and numerous clinics throughout Harris County, Texas, United States, including the city of Houston. The entity's administrative offices are in Bellaire, Texas. [1]
Harris Health System is an integrated delivery system that provides healthcare services open to all residents of Harris County, Texas. It is the first accredited healthcare institution in Harris County to be designated as an NCQA Medical Home [2] and one of the largest in the country.
The Harris County Hospital District was created by voter referendum on November 20, 1965 and was formally designated as a political subdivision with taxing authority on January 1, 1966. Its creation is largely attributed to the publication of Jan de Hartog's novel The Hospital, which described the horrific conditions of the Jefferson Davis Charity Hospital. The new district replaced an existing city-county system in which the two governmental bodies shared funding responsibility. [3] Quentin Ronald Mease was a founder and chairman of the Harris County Hospital District and chaired the Harris County Hospital Foundation. [4]
A Hospital District is a governmental entity in Texas, established pursuant to the Texas Constitution [5] or the general statutes of Texas, and its purpose is to provide medical care to the needy residents of a particular county. [6]
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." [7]
By 1990, when Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital (LBJ) received an emergency room and Ben Taub General Hospital 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. [8]
In January 2012, board members of Harris County Hospital District approved a rebranding to Harris Health System. [9] The rebranding became effective in promotion of the system starting September 6, [10] 2012.
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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 is a level I trauma center with 650 licensed beds. It is located in the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world, and is staffed by faculty, residents, and students of Baylor College of Medicine. [11]
Lyndon Baines Johnson General Hospital is a 332-bed general hospital with a level 3 trauma center located northeast of Downtown Houston. It is staffed by the faculty, residents, and students of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.[ citation needed ] After Jefferson Davis Hospital closed, LBJ opened in 1989. [12] An outpatient center next to the hospital opened in 2013. [13]
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 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Baylor College of Medicine.[ citation needed ]
In August 2009 Memorial Hermann Hospital announced possible plans to sell its Southwest Hospital in Greater Sharpstown to the Harris Health System, which, if purchased would make the hospital its third general hospital. [14] The county withdrew its bid in September 2009. [15]
Harris Health System operates 12 Community Health Centers, a dental center, eight School-Based Clinics, 13 homeless shelter clinics and four mobile health clinics. [16] 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. [16] 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.
Community-based health care centers include:
Prior to 1991 the county operated a clinic in the Bordersville area of Houston. In 1991 the Lyons Clinic opened and the county closed the Bordersville clinic. [31] The county's Ripley clinic closed as a result of the opening of the Gulfgate clinic in 2000. [22]
The Martin Luther King Health Center first opened on April 28, 1972. Quentin Mease opened in 1983. [34] At one point, the MLK health center was located on the first and third floors of Quentin Mease. [35] MLK's standalone facility on Cullen Boulevard was scheduled to open in 2009 and free space at Quentin Mease. [36] On May 14, 2010, MLK relocated to a site in southern Houston, on Swingle Road. [34] [37]
Acres Homes clinic got a $3.5 million expansion that broke ground in 1999. [38]
As of 2011 [update] the dental centers take patients of ages 16 and up with patients under that age referred to the City of Houston's dental clinics. [39]
Its current administrative office is the Fournace facility in Bellaire, Texas. [1] The facility has ten floors, of which the district occupies seven. The district moved employees from the 2525 Holly Hall, 9240 Kirby and 9250 Kirby facilities, all in the city of Houston, into Fournace. [40] In addition to 2525 Holly Hall and 9250 Kirby, 2636 S. Loop in Houston once housed the Community Health Choice offices. [41]
In 1992 the district moved into the Holly Hall building, which has 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) of space. In 2017 the district named the Holly Hall building after Elvin Franklin Jr. [42]
Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas; as of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third-most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, the most populous city in Texas and fourth-most populous city in the United States. The county was founded in 1836 and organized in 1837. It is named for John Richardson Harris, who founded the town of Harrisburg on Buffalo Bayou in 1826. According to the July 2023 census estimate, Harris County's population has shifted to 4,835,125 comprising over 16% of Texas's population. Harris County is included in the nine-county Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan area in the United States.
Galena Park is a city in Harris County, Texas, United States, within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 10,740 at the 2020 census. The population is predominantly Hispanic.
Humble is a city located in the Houston metropolitan area. Humble became an oil boomtown in the early 20th century when oil was first discovered there in 1904. By 1905, the Humble oilfield was the largest producing oilfield in Texas. Humble was home of The Humble Oil and Refining Company, a predecessor of Exxon.
Jacinto City is a city in Harris County, Texas, United States, east of the intersection of Interstate 10 and the East Loop of Interstate 610. Jacinto City is part of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area and is bordered by the cities of Houston and Galena Park. The population was 9,613 at the 2020 census.
Baytown is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Harris and Chambers counties. Located in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, it lies on the northern side of the Galveston Bay complex near the outlets of the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou. It is the sixth-largest city within this metropolitan area and seventh largest community. Major highways serving the city include State Highway 99, State Highway 146 and Interstate 10. At the 2020 U.S. census, Baytown had a population of 83,701, and it had an estimated population of 84,324 in 2022.
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States. It is immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288.
University Oaks is a subdivision in southeast Houston with approximately 240 homes located adjacent to the University of Houston. It is bounded by Wheeler Avenue to the north, South MacGregor Way to the south, Calhoun Road to the east, and Cullen Boulevard to the west.
Pecan Park is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas.
Corinthian Pointe is a large planned affordable subdivision located in Houston, Texas, in the United States. It is a part of the larger master planned community Pointe 2.3.4, and is within the 5 Corners District.
Ben Taub Hospital is a public hospital located in Houston, Texas within the Texas Medical Center. Having opened in May 1963, the hospital is owned and operated by the Harris Health System and is staffed by the faculty, residents, and students from Baylor College of Medicine.
Clinton Park is a neighborhood located in Houston, Texas. Clinton Park is located outside the 610 Loop in eastern Houston. Clinton Park is predominantly African-American. Carolyn Campbell of KHOU-TV described Clinton Park, close to the Port of Houston, as "small" and "isolated."
Pleasantville is a neighborhood located in Houston, Texas, United States. Pleasantville is predominantly African-American, and located inside of the 610 Loop in eastern Houston
Morningside Place is a group of subdivisions located in Houston, Texas, United States.
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 unincorporated area.
Idylwood is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of the I-610 loop in Houston, Texas. Idylwood, as of 2021, is the most expensive neighborhood in the East End. As of that year its houses were priced between $295,000 and $679,900. It currently has approximately 340 homes. Bill England, a redeveloper in the East End area, stated in 2004 that Idylwood appealed to buyers who are priced out of houses located in the cities of Bellaire and West University Place.
Riverside Terrace is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States. It is along Texas State Highway 288 and north of the Texas Medical Center and located near Texas Southern University and University of Houston. There about 20 sections of Riverside Terrace that span across North and South MacGregor. The community, formerly an affluent Jewish neighborhood, became an affluent community for African Americans in the 1950s and '60s. It is still predominantly African American neighborhood with different income levels. It has been undergoing a gradual change in demographics and aesthetics due to gentrification efforts since the early 2000s.
Port Houston is a neighborhood located on the East Side of Houston, Texas, United States.
Settegast is a neighborhood in northeast Houston; it has an average population density between one and five. The community is bordered by the 610 Loop, the Union Pacific Railroad Settegast Yard, and the old Beaumont Highway. The community has many small, wood-framed houses and empty lots. Habitat for Humanity has a prominent stake in the area, and a community garden is underway. There are few commercial and industrial uses within Settegast. Also, contemporary housing has started to arise within new construction in the area. The City of Houston designated Settegast as a Houston HOPE neighborhood.
The Westmoreland Historic District is a neighborhood in Neartown Houston, Texas. It is west of Spur 527, between Westheimer Road and West Alabama Street.
Knollwood Village is a subdivision in Houston, Texas. It is managed by the Knollwood Village Civic Club (KVCC), which governs Knollwood Village sections 1-10 and Braes Terrace II.
Fournace 4800 Fournace Place Bellaire, TX 77401