Shriners Hospital Leaving Texas Medical Center
One of the Texas Medical Center's institutions intends to leave the world's largest collection of hospitals. Shriners Hospital for Children, which has 70 beds across two hospitals, will consolidate its TMC location into its Galveston branch in 2021, according to KHOU.
"It was decided that quality would govern all care decisions, delivery of care models would be evaluated in all facilities, and new methods of reaching more kids in more places would be fully investigated. As healthcare has undergone incredible changes, so too must Shriners Hospitals for Children," Shriner's said in a statement.
The entire Houston metro is feeling those shifts in the market. While the TMC will soon undergo its own radical changes as it embarks on the highly anticipated TMC3 expansion, most of the real estate decisions from healthcare providers have focused on the suburbs, where they can be closer to patients, with fewer restrictions on expansions and operations.
What Shriners plans to do with its building at 6977 Main St. hasn't been released. Its location is one of the smallest TMC institutions, but it is also one of the newest, first occupied in 1996.
A major reason for the move to Galveston is the presence of a world-renowned burn unit at the island location, which Shriners voted to reopen in 2009 after being shuttered during the wake of Hurricane Ike.
