HOUSTON? We have a Problem

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Houston’s med center, by and large, services non-locals.

Where does this statement come from? Memorial Hermann, Methodist and St. Luke's hospitals along with Ben Taub, the largest of the county hospitals, are the major hospitals for people inside the Loop. Ben Taub for most of the county. The Med Center has two Level 1 trauma centers, Ben Taub and Memorial Hermann (In my more youthful days, I got on my bicycle one day to ride Downtown and woke up in Hermann Hospital). All those gunshot and car wreck victims are not wealthy potentates flying in from the UAE or South America. They are local.

ETA: Tons of non-locals come to the Medical Center for specialized care, but the big hospitals are still the major centers of generalized care.

[mhays]

I'd love to see stats on that. But yeah, typically a small percentage of patients (even for major work) are from out of the region at any hospital.

Here's one: Anderson's $13.3b in revenue last year was mostly managed care, medicare, medicaid, or indigent care. $313.7m (about 2.4%) was self-pay, international, or other. I suspect the vast majority of non-local patients were in the last category. (Operating revenue was $6.6b...I'm not clear on the difference.)

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by mhays

I'd love to see stats on that. But yeah, typically a small percentage of patients (even for major work) are from out of the region at any hospital.

Here's one: Anderson's $13.3b in revenue last year was mostly managed care, medicare, medicaid, or indigent care. $313.7m (about 2.4%) was self-pay, international, or other. I suspect the vast majority of non-local patients were in the last category. (Operating revenue was $6.6b...I'm not clear on the difference.)

You have to add the "MD" or people won't know what you're talking about. MD Anderson.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by mhays

So no evidence of any kind? Every city has lots of medical institutions. Every city is the best at some categories of treatment. Houston's only claim seems to be that a lot of its institutions are clustered.

I'm asking for something like annual healthcare revenue relative to population. Something, anything. The only stat is that NIH dollars aren't very high, suggesting that research is limited.

You seem to have an ax to grind, and need to get over it and move to a topic you know something about.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by homebucket

From an urbanistic point of view I think the one issue with having a huge cluster of medical centers as excellent and world renowned they may be, is that it leaves a large portion of the rest of the metro area with limited and/or lower quality/acuity medical services. Especially when you consider a metro as sprawly and congested as Houston, without much of a transit system to provide alternative options. I imagine there are a good amount of areas where it'll take awhile to get to reach emergency care, and we know that in these situations time is tissue.

Not true.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

There’s actually an organization that takes measures of this:

https://www.medbelle.com/best-hospital-cities-usa/


Houston ranks 9th in the United States. Their chief demerit is access to that care. Houston’s med center, by and large, services non-locals.

Services, by and large, non-locals? LOL

It services a lot of non-locals, but I can tell you that it absolutely services a great number of locals.

Like so many Houston threads, there are always those (often the same people) who seem to have an agenda. This has been going on ever since SSP existed. They operate based on conjecture without any basis, and thrive on misinformation.

JManc is doing a great job in setting things straight (as are others), but there's no way mhays and a few others are going listen to anyone. Maybe time to move on.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

You seem to have an ax to grind, and need to get over it and move to a topic you know something about.

That's not fair. He is asking in good faith for people to factually support their claims.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Would it not be the case that comparatively few Houstonians are “lucky” to have it “near them” if they cannot afford or otherwise gain access to those amenities?

MD Anderson and Texas Children's will take the uninsured.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by mhays

What makes you say meds are big in Houston? I've looked for stats or some basis for that claim, and asked on this board, but heard nothing. The only supported claim so far is they cluster a lot of it in one place.

The only good stats I've found are peripheral. Houston's NIH research grant totals are always middling at best.

Looks like per capita NIH funding in Houston is in the same range as in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. https://ssti.org/blog/useful-stats-n...etro-2014-2018

[mhays]

For actual NIH stats from 2024 and recent years, use this tool (pick a year, sort by dollars, then sort by state--that'll let you page down and see clear comparisons). Boston and SF are far ahead. Houston is in the peloton.

As for my asking for some basis for the Houston posters' claim, welcome to SSP! We ask people to veryify claims here. So far I've provided actual first-hand evidence, and the people making the claims haven't.

[JManc]

Again, not sure why we are discussing grant funding as if we're basing that on whether or not healthcare/ medicine is a major component of the Houston economy. It is and the 'proof' is the mere existence of the TMC.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by mhays

For actual NIH stats from 2024 and recent years, use this tool (pick a year, sort by dollars, then sort by state--that'll let you page down and see clear comparisons). Boston and SF are far ahead. Houston is in the peloton.

I already saw that tool. I’m afraid I’d have to care a lot more than I actually do to slog through all that. From looking at that tool, though, I can say that Houston has by far the highest funding (two-and-a-half times that of the next highest city, Dallas) in the number 6 state for funding. For whatever that is worth.