In 2016, Central Texas Medical Center, located at 1305 Wonder World Drive, San Marcos, provided $22 million in uncompensated medical care to qualifying residents in Hays County.

CTMC CEO Anthony Stahl said providing care—including uncompensated care—to the Hays County community is a privilege.

“When you start to really dig down, [those receiving uncompensated care] are people that can be our neighbors, people we care about,” Stahl said. “I think it speaks to who we are as an organization to extend the healing ministry of Christ.”

Stahl said as a not-for-profit entity, CTMC uses whatever profits it makes in a given year and, rather than sending dividends to stockholders, invests in new equipment and programs that will better serve the community.

CTMC's recent investments in technology and facilities include upgraded labs in the hospital’s heart unit and the purchase of a new large-bore MRI machine, which was specially designed to accommodate patients who are claustrophobic.

The hospital is also making an effort to address a shortage of primary care physicians within CTMC’s primary service area by hiring new physicians throughout the year, Stahl said.

Stahl said the hospital and its parent company, Adventist Health, are keeping an eye on national health care legislation, but it is hard to predict how new laws will affect health care locally. 

“What I do know is the big-picture things won’t really change,” Stahl said. “Right now we’re on a path where the government is reimbursing us more and more on quality. That will not change, no matter what happens.”