Central Health has increased the number of patients it serves amid efforts to make health care more accessible for Travis County residents.
Over the last year, the county’s taxpayer-funded hospital district has launched several new clinics, bridge services and service lines. The investments are a part of an $800 million, seven-year plan to address gaps in care for low-income and unhoused residents.
The big picture
Serving over 171,000 people in fiscal year 2023-24, Central Health saw a 10.1% increase in the number of people served from FY 2022-23, according to the organization’s 2024 annual report.
Enrollment in the district’s Medical Access Program, or MAP, and MAP Basic has increased from 109,000 to 126,000 members from 2023 to 2025, according to Central Health information. MAP covers doctors appointments and prescriptions for low-income, uninsured residents. Residents at or below 200% of the federal poverty level—or $64,300 for a family of four—are eligible for the program.
Since October 2023, Central Health has opened the following new clinics, in partnership with CommUnityCare, a federally qualified health center:
- Hornsby Bend Health and Wellness Center, 3700 Gilbert Road, Austin
- Capital Plaza Speciality Clinic, 5339 I-35, Ste. 100, Austin
- Rosewood Zaragosa Specialty Clinic, 2802 Webberville Road, Austin
- Del Valle Health & Wellness Center, 7050 Elroy Road, Del Valle
- Psychiatry
- Infectious disease
- General surgery
- Medical weight loss
- Cardiology
- Ear, nose and throat
Also of note
In 2024, Central Health launched a bridge program to provide immediate care for unhoused residents at its Capital Plaza Specialty Clinic. In September, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services began bringing people who are enrolled in or eligible for MAP benefits to the bridge clinic instead of an emergency room or county jail.
Central Health has created mobile teams that have visited the city of Austin Eighth Street Shelter for Women, Integral Care Therapeutic Diversion Center, the Hungry Hill Foundation and Texas Harm Reduction Alliance. Services provided have included blood draws, pap smears, prescription refills and cancer screenings, according to Central Health Information.
The approach
Beyond bridge services, patients may be connected to Central Health through its CommUnityCare health clinics or the Dell Seton Medical Center. Patients may then be transferred to one of Central Health’s 25 respite beds to heal injuries or sickness.
“Prior to some of the infrastructure that we built, there was a 50% readmission rate within two to three days from patients that would discharge [from the hospital] directly to the street, so this transition is critically important,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alan Schalscha said.
In June, Central Health will more than double its amount of respite beds by opening a 50-bed respite facility at its Clinical Education Center off I-35 and East 15th Street. By 2030, Central Health plans to open a three-building complex off Cameron Road that will include a high-risk medical clinic and in- and outpatient substance use treatment, according to Central Health information.
Additionally, Central Health helps its patients apply for housing and disability benefits.
“We've laid out a vision to try to accompany folks who are homeless from that first episode of a place to heal all the way through to a year out with the hope to ensure that person has the care they need and the housing they need,” President and CEO Dr. Patrick Lee said in an interview with Community Impact.
The background
Since 2014, The University of Texas Dell Medical School has received $35 million of taxpayer dollars annually paid by Central Health with the intent to support increased capacity for greater care of the area’s poorest residents. A lawsuit filed in 2017 spurred some of the initial unease from community members regarding the hospital district’s handling of tax dollars.
The district has since implemented many recommendations from a third-party performance review authorized by the Travis County Commissioners Court in 2022, said Ted Burton, Central Health’s chief communications officer.
More recently, Central Health has shifted its focus from primarily funding care to providing care for Travis County residents. In 2022, the district launched its seven-year Healthcare Equity Plan—an $800 million initiative to invest in more direct care methods and clinics.
The plan was developed after Central Health found there were gaps between community members' needs and the care they were receiving. Moderate gaps existed where Central Health was meeting 70% of the community needs, while significant gaps occurred where 50% of community needs were met, Schalscha said.
These gaps informed the creation and expansion of 16 new service lines, Lee said.
“Over time, it became apparent that there were gaps in care and that really the best way to address those gaps was for Central Health to step up to the plate and actually build those services,” Central Health Chairperson Ann Kitchen said.
Why it matters
Growing Central Health’s services has reduced patients’ wait times. The wait time for a colonoscopy has been reduced from over a year to a few weeks due to having a larger team of gastroenterologists, Lee said.
This expansion could help Central Health better detect cancer, he said. Central Health has detected only 30% of the cancer through its MAP benefits that it would expect to see in the county, meaning some cancers may be going unnoticed, Lee said.
“We are finding and preventing major complications like foot amputations, like cancer, that otherwise without that access would have just continued to progress,” Lee said.
The organization has sought to locate its new services in areas where there is critical need but no access to care, Schalscha said. Since 2023, Central Health has opened three clinics in East Austin and one in Del Valle.
On average, residents living east of I-35 die 10 years earlier than those living west of the highway, Lee said. Central Health has seen more patients living along the I-35 corridor being pushed further out of the city due to the increasing cost of living.
Quote of note
“By caring for those who need us most, the most vulnerable, we improve the health of our community,” Lee said. “We are making the best possible use of the public's investment going upstream and preventing fires rather than waiting and fighting massive blazes downstream.”
Haley McLeod contributed to this article.
