Health care stories and trends to watch for in 2019



1. Texas Health Frisco to open


Texas Health Resources is expected to open its first Frisco hospital in late 2019. The 20-acre campus, located northeast of Eldorado and Dallas parkways, will include a 325,000-square-foot, 80-bed hospital with an emergency room, surgical services, women’s services and a neonatal intensive care unit. The campus also includes a 120,000-square-foot UT Southwestern Medical Center office building. The medical office building will house primary care practices and a multispecialty clinic.





2. Health systems pursue merger


Baylor Scott & White Health and Memorial Hermann Health System announced in October plans to merge. A definitive agreement for the merger is expected to be complete in 2019. By the closing of the final agreement the two health systems will operate under a new name that has yet to be determined, but individual locations throughout Texas will continue to operate under their current names. The two systems collectively operate 68 hospitals, 1,100 clinics and two health plans throughout the Dallas, Houston and Central Texas areas. Baylor Scott & White Health has two hospitals in Frisco as well as a number of clinics.





3. Frisco hospitals receive NICU
designations


Frisco’s two Baylor Scott & White Health hospitals received a Level II designation in 2018 for their neonatal intensive care units. Both hospitals originally applied for a Level III designation. Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Frisco appealed its designation, but the Texas Office of EMS/Trauma Systems did not change the designation. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, which is responsible for determining the designations, Level II NICUs care for infants who are at or older than 32 weeks gestational age.






4. Women’s services unit opens


Medical City Frisco opened its women’s services unit in October. The unit includes 13 luxury delivery and recovery rooms and features a six-bed Level II neonatal intensive care unit with three dedicated cesarean section operating rooms and a 10-bed nursery.