Leaders pleadge health care funding for rural Texas communities

LA GRANGE, Texas (KXAN) — Paint chips from a sign in front of the now-abandoned St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange.

It used to provide emergency services and orthopedic surgery, but closed its doors in 2023 due to financial difficulties, leaving a large gap in health care access for the community.

“That’s had a huge impact on the community,” said Sheri Kehler, CEO of Tejas Health Care, a primary care and mental health care provider. “People were using that hospital to have access to emergency services, and now they don’t have that.”

Kehler said, without the hospital, people have increasingly put off care.

“There’s an increase of people waiting to the last minute and coming [to Tejas Health Care], and then EMS has to transport them to Austin,” she said. “People want to move out this way, out to the rural. It’s like a dream for everybody in the big city to move out to the country. But then you come out here, and there’s just not the infrastructure in health care.”

On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. participated in a roundtable discussion on solutions to rural health care access. 

Both discussed the strain rural hospitals are under. St. Mark’s story is not unique – more than 20 rural Texas hospitals have closed because of financial issues since 2010. 

“Rural America is in crisis, and the rural hospitals are absolutely critical for them to survive these crises,” Kennedy said.

Abbott said Texas has recently invested more than $300 million to address rural health care needs. Additionally, federal leaders announced the state will receive $100 million per year for the next five years through the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative — a $50 billion fund.

The governor said the money will be used to expand maternal and child health services, strengthen behavioral telehealth in rural areas, and help staff small-town clinics.

“We have an obligation to ensure that those communities are going to be able to succeed,” Abbott said. “One of the most important ways to do that is having access to health care.”

There may be hope for St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange. According to reporting from the Fayette County Record, a health group based in Mississippi has reached a deal to lease and operate St. Mark’s Medical Center.

The local paper reported that some services could return to the hospital as soon as the first half of 2026.