Texas Children's Hospital to close 2 health centers that serves low-income communities

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Two Texas Children's Hospital locations that primarily serve low-income families will soon be closing down, with one of them shuttering its doors on Friday. The decision left many wondering what this would mean for access to healthcare for vulnerable patients.

Parent Olivia Ojeda doesn't know what scheduling and commuting to her children's doctor appointments will look like moving forward. They came to the Center for Children and Women in the Greenspoint area for the last time Thursday afternoon.

"My two kids have been coming here since they were born. I really liked coming here because it has everything from pregnancy care, dentists, and eye doctors. Basically, my kids' checkup. Now, we'll have to find those separately for each one of them instead of just coming to this one location," Ojeda said.

The hospital system confirmed that it would be shutting down both of the centers for exclusive use by its Health Plan members, which were originally built in 2013. Its Greenspoint location at 700 North Sam Houston Parkway West will be closed Dec. 1 and the southwest Houston facility at 9700 Bissonnet Street will operate until June 30, 2024.

These upcoming closures may lead to an influx of other places providing care to underserved populations, like the HOPE Clinic. Its chief operations officer Shane Chen said they are preparing for the increased demand.

HOPE Clinic has five different locations that serve uninsured, under-insured, those with limited English proficiency, and low-income patients. Its Aldine Meadows and Beltway facilities are within three to six miles of the TCH centers that are going out of operation.

Chen said she worries about vulnerable families who may have to travel even farther or commit more time to get the services that they need.

"For you and I who actually have a car, we can hop into our car, drive to any location, park, and have the means to pay for parking. It's not a problem. However, many people rely on either family or friends to help with transportation, or they rely on the bus system," Chen said. "We're very concerned that many families will not have immediate access to some of these very much-needed services. So we're constantly monitoring if we need to make any type of outreach efforts to help bridge those gaps in care."

In a statement to ABC13, a spokesperson for Texas Children's Hospital explained the reasoning for the closures as "utilization dropped significantly over the last decade and we felt a responsibility to adapt to the changes the city of Houston has experienced to ensure we are reaching all families and expanding access to care."

A new plan is being developed that would increase instead of decrease healthcare access for its patients. But details of that plan have not been shared. It claims that no patients will lose care or coverage during this transition and that almost all impacted families have been connected with new providers.

As for staff at these locations, a spokesperson said all employees have been offered the opportunity to continue working at Texas Children's.

For more information about the Center for Children and Women closures, click here to access Texas Children's Hospital frequently asked questions page.

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