“We’re very medically underserved for the number of people [who] live in the area,” Magnolia Pharmacy owner Steve Hoffart said.
Accessing medical care[/caption]Counting the cost
According to 2015 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 60,000 people live in the two Magnolia-area ZIP codes: 77354 and 77355. Locally, the area includes two ER and two urgent care facilities—all of which are located in 77354.
Because of the lack of local health care options, Magnolia residents often face higher health care costs. Seeking treatment for minor injuries at an ER—the only facility open 24/7 in Magnolia—can increase health care costs, Hoffart said. ERs have higher overhead costs, which are passed onto patients seeking care there.
Additionally, traveling long distances and disregarding preventive care can increase costs for Magnolia residents, Magnolia City Council Member Matthew “Doc” Dantzer said. Dantzer worked in the health care industry for 20 years, beginning as a medic in the U.S. Army.
“Nobody wants to go to the doctor, because the doctor is going to tell you there’s something wrong,” he said. “But if there’s a [distance or cost] variable in there you can put [in]—those are all variables that are going to get people to not go [to the doctor], which is going to cause a longer-term issue. We see it in almost every rural community, especially with seniors and people with low income.”
Existing options
Uninsured Underinsured[/caption]Hoffart said he believes Magnolia’s place as a commuter town is a contributing factor to the lack of medical care options. As traffic patterns change, driving residents west to Magnolia—particularly with the opening of the overpass at FM 1488 and FM 149—Hoffart said he foresees the community gaining additional health care facilities.
“A lot of people live here and work other places, so I don’t think necessarily that there’s been a big push by Magnolia residents to have that type of health care in town because they’ll stop on their way home from work [in Tomball or The Woodlands],” he said. “Traffic patterns haven’t dictated to really need [many options].”
ERs like Affinity Emergency Center at Magnolia—located in the same building as Magnolia Pharmacy—provide services for people exhibiting life- or limb-threatening conditions, such as signs of heart attacks or strokes, head injury, severe bleeding or burns, or loss of consciousness, according to the Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers.
Meanwhile, urgent care centers—including America’s ER on FM 2978, which provides both emergency and urgent care services—Davam Urgent Care and Magnolia’s Urgent Care—both located along FM 1488—provide treatment for minor infections, flu symptoms, allergies and sprains, according to the TAFEC.
In addition to the ER and urgent care facilities—which Hoffart said are a tremendous benefit to the community—Magnolia has several primary care physicians. However, beyond basic care, residents have to travel for specialized care.
To provide more local services to residents, TOMAGWA—a nonprofit organization serving uninsured individuals in Tomball, Magnolia and Waller—opened a permanent Magnolia site in March inside the Magnolia Landmark Building. The clinic offers wellness exams and patient education in addition to providing nonemergency health care services.
Beyond Magnolia, residents also have access to a variety of inpatient medical services, such as those provided by Tomball Regional Medical Center.
“Approximately 15 percent of [ER] visits [in 2016] were from Magnolia residents, [who are] about 20-30 minutes away from the hospital, depending on variables, such as traffic, chosen route and road construction,” TRMC Marketing Manager Sylvia Saumell-Baston said.
Along I-45 in The Woodlands—about 20 miles from City Hall—residents also have access to Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands and Houston Methodist The Woodlands, both celebrating grand openings this year, as well as CHI St. Luke’s Health—The Woodlands Hospital and Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital.
Lack of resources
Counting the cost[/caption]Although there are a number of facilities in the surrounding areas, regional health care resources are out of reach for most Magnolia residents, and a lack of public transportation creates a barrier to adequate medical care for many residents, according to a 2017 Community Health Needs Assessment from the Tomball Regional Health Foundation—which services Tomball, Magnolia and Waller.
“If transportation is an issue—and it usually is in an under-resourced community—then [residents] have to make decisions as to where they spend what little resources they have,” said Steven Lightfoot, TOMAGWA’s senior director of development and spiritual care. “More often than not, they will forgo health care and checkups and things that are preventative in nature. They won’t put the resources there if they don’t have ready access—affordable access—to health care.”
Because of limited resources, residents—especially those without health insurance—wait until a crisis situation to seek medical care, which yields a more costly result, the report said.
Nearly 9,900 Magnolia-area residents did not have health insurance in 2015, according to the TRHF. Additionally, 6,483 Magnolia-area residents were insured by Medicaid in 2015.
Lightfoot said uninsured or low-income residents often seek medical care first at an ER rather than a clinic, which may not exist in the community. He said this trend increases the cost of health care overall.
“When people don’t have a permanent source that they can call a health care home—when they’re underserved [and] they don’t have resources to pay for a doctor on their own or they don’t have insurance to pay for medical care—then the first place an under-resourced person will go is an emergency room of some sort,” Lightfoot said. “When they do that, it’s about 10 times more in cost to the provider.”
According to a 2013 study funded by the National Institutes of Health, the median cost for outpatient services in an ER was $1,233.
Community support
Lightfoot said community members can get the most out of their local access to medical care by capitalizing on the resources already available in Magnolia.
“I think the thing to do is grow the things that exist in the community,” he said. “The best thing the community can do is to get behind those organizations that are taking care of health issues for those that are under resourced, because in the end, we all benefit because the price of health care in the community goes down.”
Dantzer, who joined the City Council in May, said he has reached out to major medical organizations with hopes of a hospital opening a satellite center in Magnolia.
“What we’re looking for is a more comprehensive health care offering for the community,” he said. “I think [medical providers] are probably a little more hesitant [to come to Magnolia] because the growth hasn’t hit that area yet.”
Magnolia Economic Development Coordinator Tana Ross said the city has limited space on which to construct major medical facilities. However, she said residents have access to options often not available in other rural communities.
“The accessibility of a round-the-clock emergency service combined with ultramodern imag[ing] is a real plus for our residents and those looking to move into the area,” Ross said. “In a rural community these needs are most often met with a long drive or an expensive ambulance ride. But in both cases, the gold standard for quality of life is trauma care, and I don’t see that being too far off in the case of Magnolia.”
However, until additional facilities move into Magnolia, Hoffart said he seeks to fill in the gaps by providing nontraditional services at Magnolia Pharmacy, such as immunizations, nutritional counseling and diabetes prevention classes. He said he encourages residents to participate in local health events and speak with hospital board and city council members.
“As more and more hospitals begin to make their presence known on the north side of Houston, I think the natural move is going to be to come this direction,” Hoffart said.
