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Hidalgo County amends hospital assessment rates after public hearing on Health Care Funding District
Summary
After a public hearing, Hidalgo County Commissioners amended mandatory hospital payment assessments to be collected quarterly and authorized the tax assessor to collect the amended amounts to leverage state programs via intergovernmental transfers.
The Hidalgo County Commissioners Court approved changes to mandatory assessments on institutional health-care providers after a public hearing on the Hidalgo County Health Care Funding District.
County health staff explained the local provider participation fund is assessed as a fee based on a hospital's net patient revenue and then intergovernmentally transferred (IGT) to participate in state programs such as GME, ATLAS, UC and CHRP. "We will base the fund on the hospital's net patient revenue," health staff said, describing the mechanism the county uses to draw down additional state funding. A member of the public asked why Edinburg Children's Hospital appeared grouped under Edinburg Regional Medical Center; staff confirmed the children's hospital is part of the South Texas Hospital Systems and receives the same system allocation, not extra funds.
Following public comment, the court voted to amend mandatory payments to be assessed quarterly for the fiscal year, authorized the Hidalgo County tax assessor-collector to collect the amended payments, and approved an annual rate assessment based on 2023-to-2024 net patient revenue. The court's action was taken by motion with an affirmative voice vote. Staff said the changes are intended to increase the county's leverage of state programs that benefit local constituents.
The public hearing record and the staff explanation identified the decision as an administrative funding change; no changes to statutory authority were asserted. The county closed the hearing before taking action and did not provide a line-item public breakdown of projected per-hospital dollar amounts during the floor remarks; a member of the public requested that dollar breakdown and a fuller explanation of the allocations.
