Current logoHarris County Hospital District logo (prior to 2012)
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.
History
Former Harris Health System Administration Building
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 LBJ received an emergency room and Ben Taub 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.
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]
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.
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]
Administrative office
Harris Health System offices
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]
