East Texas Community Clinic reports growth; hospital outlines robotic surgery, cath lab and facility expansion plans

Henderson County Commissioners Court heard updates from East Texas Community Clinic (ETCC) and local hospital leaders about recent growth in primary care services, an expanding family medicine residency and multi‑year hospital facility upgrades.

County officials were told ETCC started seeing patients in May 2020 and has served more than 12,500 individual patients in five years, with about 18,500 clinic visits reported last year. Glenn Robinson, chief executive officer of East Texas Community Clinic, said the clinic opened a third site in Canton in early March and is seeing about 34 patients a day there.

"Last year, it was around 18,500 clinic visits," Robinson said. He also told the court ETCC received a $1,000,000 incubator grant from the Texas Department of State Health Services to help cover salaries after opening the Canton site and that the clinic plans to apply for a $650,000 expansion grant to add another provider and a 340B pharmacy.

The 340B pharmacy model was described as a way to reduce medication costs for uninsured and low‑income patients and to recycle savings into clinic services. Robinson explained that 340B pricing can allow the clinic to obtain certain medications at steep discounts and reinvest the difference into care for patients on a sliding fee scale.

Dr. Richard David, program director for the residency program affiliated with UT Health, described the residency as growing from four residents in the first class to 18 residents beginning July 1. "We have expanded now from 4 residents in our first year to 18 starting in July 1," Dr. David said, and he noted that most recent graduates have remained in Texas and many in full‑scope family medicine, including obstetrics.

Hospital leadership also briefed the court on clinical and capital plans. A hospital representative told the court that DaVinci robotic surgery began two weeks earlier and is being used for general surgery, urology and gynecology. "Two weeks ago, we started off DaVinci robotic surgery," the representative said, adding that the hospital plans to reestablish a cath lab in 2026 and aims for expanded clinical space with a roughly 60,000‑square‑foot professional office building to be built starting next year.

The court heard additional facility plans: expanding the Cedar Creek Lake emergency department to about 20 beds, updating radiology equipment and lab space, building a developer‑funded medical office building and establishing an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) at Cedar Creek Lake. Officials gave an approximate timeline of 2025 for robotic surgery, 2026 for cath lab work and early 2027 for occupancy of new outpatient space.

Court members and clinic leaders discussed funding and timing. ETCC officials said federal and state funding streams support federally qualified health center (FQHC) operations but that a pending state grant and other budgetary changes introduced uncertainty about exact timing. Dr. David and Robinson both emphasized the residency pipeline as central to retaining primary care and obstetric services locally.

Why it matters: Court members noted the combination of a growing FQHC‑style clinic, a larger local residency and hospital investments could keep more routine, obstetric and some specialty care in Henderson County rather than requiring patients to travel. County leaders and clinic/hospital representatives framed the changes as aimed at reducing emergency visits and improving access for Medicaid, uninsured and low‑income residents.

County Judge and commissioners offered thanks to clinic and hospital staff, and the court had no formal vote on the presentation. The court moved on to its next agenda item after receiving the updates.