In a new episode of The Arena with Texas Public Policy Foundation CEO Greg Sindelar, Senator Adam Hinojosa says access to healthcare plays a critical part in the growth of rural areas in Texas.
“The business model of a hospital doesn’t work for small communities because the population isn’t sufficient to sustain that model,” Hinojosa explained. “So that’s a big problem for rural areas.”
“People have urgent needs and maybe need prescriptions refilled or a checkup…There’s a huge bottleneck, especially in the Rio Grande area, but anywhere where there’s rural.”
“One of the things that prevents more growth in a rural area…is access to healthcare,” he continued. “We have a bill that would help some of these standalone operations, standalone emergency care rooms, standalone urgent care, that can take the place [of a hospital] in many instances.”
“The more you see that there’s access to healthcare you more you see a little bit more growth…and also having those types of facilities, you don’t have just one doctor having to be there 24/7 with no help, no rest, no ability to have a vacation. So it creates more of a facility in in a network of doctors that you can draw in to help meet that rural need.”
To watch the full episode, click here.