The Texas Health and Human Services Commission plans to improve the state hospital

HHSC announced this week that the Legislative Budget Board and the Office of the Governor approved using $47.7 million and the remaining funds will be distributed throughout the course of the 2018-2019 biennium.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) plans to improve the state hospital system with $300 million that was approved by the 85th Texas Legislature.

HHSC announced this week that the Legislative Budget Board and the Office of the Governor approved using $47.7 million and the remaining funds will be distributed throughout the course of the 2018-2019 biennium. The initial funding will allow Texas to renovate and architecturally plan for the replacement of existing facilities as well as plan and design a new hospital.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston is set to receive a $6 million portion of the funding for architectural planning and design phase of a new psychiatric hospital. The behavior health facility will reduce the number of patients treated at hospital emergency centers and the Harris County Jail which currently houses more psychiatric patients than all of the state hospitals combined. The plan is to break ground on the project in 2019.

Austin State Hospital will receive $15.5 million to create a master plan. The 160-year-old hospital will be replaced at its current location at a cost of $235 million and construction could begin in 2019.

The San Antonio State Hospital will be receiving $14.5 million in state dollars for pre-planning and planning activities for total reconstruction of the hospital in addition to $1.2 million for immediate repairs and expansion of the existing campus. The current facility is more than 100 years old and serves 54 counties around San Antonio and South Texas.

Rusk State Hospital was approved $4.5 million to obtain the architectural and engineering plans for a new 100-bed unit that will house mentally ill patients requiring maximum security. The state also has earmarked $4.5 million for future improvements to a 100-bed section of the hospital treating patients with mental illnesses who pose fewer security risks. Rusk State Hospital is one of nine mental health hospitals overseen by HHSC.

This story originally published by Strategic Partnerships, Inc.