Hospitals in Denton County, The Colony ER Hospital among them, would owe the county a combined $107.9 million or so this fiscal year under an amended health care provider assessment going before Commissioners Court on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The court will hold a 9 a.m. public hearing, required by the state health code, on the rate for the county's Local Provider Participation Fund, then consider orders that change how the mandatory payments are figured. Commissioners first approved this year's payments on Sept. 29. The proposed order says there is now "good cause" to amend that rate.
How the rate would work
Under the amended order, each hospital would pay 6% of its net patient revenue from inpatient services and, separately, 6% of its net patient revenue from outpatient services. Both amounts would come from the hospital's latest Medicare cost report, using Medicare's upper payment limit method; a hospital without a cost report would be measured with another acceptable data source.
A new county rule, Rule 14, would lock in that split for payments assessed on or after Oct. 1, 2026.
The order also opens a new bank account for this year's payments, which it says the Texas Health and Human Services Commission asked the county to create. The money must be spent on the uses listed in the state law that sets up the fund.
What each hospital would pay
The county's rate worksheet lists 17 hospitals and totals about $52.8 million on inpatient revenue and $55.1 million on outpatient revenue, or roughly $27 million a quarter. The largest assessments:
- Medical City Denton: about $27.7 million
- Texas Health Denton: about $17.8 million
- Presbyterian Hospital Flower Mound: about $13.9 million
- Medical City Lewisville: about $13.1 million
- Cook Children's Medical Center Prosper: about $7.4 million
- The Heart Hospital Baylor Denton: about $7 million
