A new rate for Williamson County’s health care provider participation program was set by commissioners at an Oct. 8 meeting.

Two-minute impact

County commissioners approved a new rate of 6% for the county’s health care participation program.

The program, requested by hospitals, lets hospitals recapture uncompensated expenses spent on caring for residents on Medicaid, as well as low-income or uninsured residents, county officials said. The rate is the highest set over the last six years.
Williamson County hospitals that participate in the program include:
  • Ascension Seton
  • St. David's HealthCare
  • Baylor Scott & White Health
  • Cedar Park Regional Medical Center
Under the new rate, hospitals will pay 6% of net patient revenues to the state’s Comprehensive Hospital Increase Reimbursement Program, according to county documents. The county then collects the funds, sending them to the state to leverage for more money, which eventually comes back to the hospitals, officials confirmed.

In their own words


The rate isn’t an increase on the tax dollars for Williamson County residents, said Justin Flores, a spokesperson representing Adelanto HealthCare Ventures, at the Oct. 8 meeting. Precinct 3 County Commissioner Valerie Covey said the program doesn’t affect the county’s budget, either.

“These are dollars that the hospitals are willing to pay into the fund in order to draw down dollars, in order to continue to provide care for the most vulnerable patients that exist here in Williamson County,” Flores said.

County Judge Bill Gravell said Williamson County has seen over a billion dollars in medical expansions over the last few years. Gravell noted a new Dell Children’s Medical Center and Texas Children’s Hospital in the county, along with Baylor Scott & White expanding in Round Rock.