By Lewis of Orange                                   H.C.R. No. 202
         77R8703 MKS-D                           
                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-1           WHEREAS, Doctors Hospital of Groves is a stand-alone facility
 1-2     operated by Community Health Care Foundation, Inc., a tax-exempt
 1-3     organization with no other affiliation or access to corporate
 1-4     funding, but which is dedicated to providing quality health care
 1-5     and improving access to and availability of physicians, ambulatory
 1-6     services, emergency care, and hospital inpatient and outpatient
 1-7     health care; and
 1-8           WHEREAS, The hospital not only serves residents of the city
 1-9     of Groves but also treats persons from all over Southeast Texas who
1-10     are in need of medical care, including the uninsured and
1-11     underinsured, providing charity care for indigent persons in the
1-12     community and uncompensated care for persons unable or unwilling to
1-13     pay for services as well as health care services for persons
1-14     receiving assistance in the form of Medicaid, Medicare, or the
1-15     Children's Health Insurance Program; and
1-16           WHEREAS, It is estimated that in the year 2000 Doctors
1-17     Hospital provided $2.2 million in state-defined charity care and
1-18     $2.3 million in uncompensated care; and
1-19           WHEREAS, Although Doctors Hospital of Groves is currently
1-20     designated an urban hospital, it serves a small community whose
1-21     population mirrors the population served by many rural hospitals
1-22     that receive a higher reimbursement and more favorable treatment
1-23     under certain federal programs for the same services; and
1-24           WHEREAS, Doctors Hospital is the only osteopathic facility in
 2-1     the area between Dallas and Houston, and as the only independent
 2-2     teaching hospital it provides its 12 family practice residents with
 2-3     an opportunity to treat a medically needy population; furthermore,
 2-4     the hospital's active commitment to providing access and
 2-5     availability to physicians and health care services is evident by
 2-6     its efforts in recruiting new physicians to the community,
 2-7     including the most recent additions of a general surgeon, an
 2-8     orthopedic surgeon, and an anesthesiologist; and
 2-9           WHEREAS, The State of Texas recognizes the importance of
2-10     providing health care to underserved areas of the state and its
2-11     uninsured and underinsured residents, and Doctors Hospital is
2-12     uniquely positioned to reach a large uninsured and underinsured
2-13     population; redesignating the hospital as a rural hospital possibly
2-14     would allow the hospital to receive better rates of reimbursement
2-15     for services and to reap other benefits that would ensure its
2-16     continued delivery of health care services; and
2-17           WHEREAS, Doctors Hospital of Groves has been dedicated to
2-18     providing health care to uninsured and underinsured Texans that
2-19     might otherwise be forced to go without medical care, and because
2-20     the hospital is continually teaching and recruiting physicians to
2-21     serve the medically needy residents of Texas, it is important that
2-22     the hospital be given every opportunity to safeguard its ability to
2-23     provide health care to the city of Groves and the Southeast Texas
2-24     community; now, therefore, be it
2-25           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
2-26     hereby direct the Health and Human Services Commission to
2-27     redesignate the Doctors Hospital of Groves from an urban hospital
 3-1     to a rural hospital; and, be it further
 3-2           RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official
 3-3     copy of this resolution to the commissioner of health and human
 3-4     services.