Texas Legislature Approves $1.5B for 7 State Hospitals

Earlier this summer, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that seven new state hospital projects were being funded to better serve people in need of inpatient psychiatric services.

With $1.5 billion approved by Abbott and the Texas Legislature, the state Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) projects will expand, renovate and build new facilities across the state.

“Texas continues working to increase access to critical behavioral health treatments for Texans in every corner of our state,” the governor said in a news release. “Last year, I signed a law to provide crucial funding to expand and build new, modern mental health facilities throughout Texas. These new state hospital projects will help ensure that Texans experiencing a mental health issue have access to mental health professionals and high-quality treatments to address their needs.”

Rendering courtesy of Office of Gov. Greg Abbott

He also acknowledged the Legislature and HHSC “for working tirelessly to increase access to mental health care resources that will serve Texans for generations to come.”

Among the new state hospital projects in North Texas are planned facilities in Wichita Falls and Terrell to better serve people in need of inpatient psychiatric services, according to Dallas Innovates.

Additionally, an eighth North Texas hospital construction project — previously funded by the state — is the nearly $500 million Texas Behavioral Health Center at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern, an effort already underway.

HHSC officials said each of the new statewide hospitals will be important to many people in Texas.

“We’re extremely proud of the transformation of our state hospital system and the opportunities being created,” Scott Schalchlin, deputy executive commissioner for the HHSC Health and Specialty Care System, said in a statement. “These projects will improve the well-being of even more people across the state. We’re not just building hospitals — we’re rebuilding lives.”

The newly announced projects by Abbott are in various stages of planning and design, with many slated for construction later this year:

• In Wichita Falls, North Texas State Hospital is constructing a $452 million, 200-bed replacement facility.
• With $573 million in state funding, Terrell State Hospital is building a 250-bed replacement treatment center.
• Amarillo’s Panhandle State Hospital is due to get soon a facility to serve 75 patients in a non-maximum security unit. The construction budget is $159 million.
• Lubbock Psychiatric Center’s new state hospital will include a 50-bed maximum security unit. It is expected to cost $121 million.
• In Harlingen, the Rio Grande State Center has undertaken a $120 million effort to expand its facility to add a 50-bed maximum security unit.
• The $15 million transformation of an existing building into a maximum-security facility at the San Antonio State Hospital will include 40 beds.
• With $50 million from state officials in Austin, planning and land acquisition to expand the current El Paso Psychiatric Center facility by 50 non-maximum-security beds will soon get underway.

Among the Terrell State Hospital’s 250 beds will be 50 living areas for patients in maximum security, 140 in forensic non-maximum security, 35 for adolescents and 25 civil commitments. Construction is scheduled to begin late this year.

Dallas Innovates reported that HHSC’s plans for a replacement of the facility on the North Texas State Hospital-Wichita Falls campus has prioritized its 200 beds so that 24 of them are in maximum security, 136 in non-maximum security, 24 are set aside for children and 16 are for civil commitments.

Crews will begin building the hospital later in 2024, according to the commission.

Already this year, grand openings for replacement hospitals in Austin and San Antonio were held.

HHSC also completed renovations at Kerrville State Hospital and opened new facilities at Rusk State Hospital and the John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center in Houston.

Texas Behavioral Health Center at UT Southwestern

Beyond the seven newly funded state hospital projects, HHSC said construction continues on the 292-bed Texas Behavioral Health Center at UT Southwestern in Dallas.

The 200-bed adult wing and the 92-bed pediatric unit are being built on different timelines and will be completed in summer 2025 and spring 2026, respectively.

The state commission partnered with the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas to design, construct and operate the Texas Behavioral Health Center.

The facility’s $282.5 million for the adult wing was approved by the 87th Texas Legislature, and an additional $102 million was approved by the 88th Texas Legislature to complete construction. Children’s Health provided another $200 million to construct the pediatric wing.

Abbott and the Texas Legislature have provided $2.5 billion since 2017 for capital projects to modernize and increase access to inpatient psychiatric care in the state.

HHSC owns and operates nine state hospitals and one residential treatment center for youth.

State hospitals provide inpatient psychiatric services to individuals on civil commitments and competency restoration services for people on forensic commitments who have been determined incompetent to stand trial or are found not guilty by reason of insanity.