Houston-based Texas Children's Hospital is shuttering two health centers that primarily serve low-income patients, the Houston Chronicle reported Nov. 10.
The system's Centers for Women and Children will close its Greenspoint, Texas, location Dec. 1 and its southwest Houston location June 30, 2024, according to the Chronicle. The facilities serve patients through Texas Children's Health Plan.
The closure of the Greenspoint location will not affect patient's coverage on the Texas Children's plan, according to the health system's website.
Reasons for the closures were not provided. However, a TCH spokesperson told Becker's that the health system is working on a plan to expand access to care in the region.
"For almost 70 years, Texas Children’s has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to care for families in the communities we serve. We have consistently developed and offered programs and services that prioritize access for our most vulnerable patient populations. From the creation of the Texas Children’s Health Plan, ensuring that children and women have access to insurance so they can receive the medical care they deserve, to our Community Cares program, which has 8 locations across Houston and Austin and offers medical care, social services support, assistance with Medicaid insurance applications and nutrition education, to our Mobile Clinics program, which sends our team of nurses and physicians out into medically underserved areas offering well-check screenings and vaccinations, Texas Children’s is incredibly proud of our longtime dedication to providing access to high quality health care to families," the spokesperson said.
"As part of that on-going dedication, we identified an opportunity to create a different paradigm and care model that will improve the quality of care and patient experience as well as expand the access we provide to not only the special population of our Health Plan families but to all our patients and families. More details are coming, but this redesigned, optimized model will be bigger and better and will include many more locations and services for families to choose from. Ultimately, this will give families more options for care by Texas Children’s physicians closer to home in all the communities we serve."