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University Health (UH) reports it remains on track to open two new community hospitals and a special hospital next year.
The University Health Retama Hospital on the Northeast Side, near the horse racing track of the same name, is scheduled to open in February 2027. And the University Health Palo Alto Hospital on the South Side, near Palo Alto College, is scheduled to open in April 2027. Each will have an attached medical office building, housing various specialty doctors.
Meanwhile, the former Christus Medical Center Hospital closed in 2025 and then acquired by University Health will reopen as University Health Babcock Specialty in 2027. The facility is undergoing renovations to meet state requirements.
Hiring of a staff of 450 each for Retama and Palo Alto continues throughout this year. University Health reports job fairs have produced a large number of applicants, and demand is high for positions at both hospitals. Retama will have 162 beds, while Palo Alto will have 227 beds.
The hospital system is also welcoming some new services, such as Milk Bank, set to open next year. It will provide donated breast milk to NICU babies and be partially funded by a $1 million donation through Frost Bank. The Pecan Valley Dialysis Center will open later this year with 26 chairs for outpatients. And a left ventricular assist device program or LVAD has already started up.
University Health President and CEO Ed Banos briefed Bexar County commissioners at their first August meeting on hospital operations as part of the University Health budget process. Commissioners must approve the hospital district's next fiscal year operating budget, which this year was around $4 billion, and set the property tax rate to support the spending plan. It appears the hospital district's board of managers and commissioners will leave the property tax rate unchanged at 27 cents per $100 valuation.
A public hearing on the hospital district tax rate, if required, will be held in commissioners court on Sept. 15 at 9:30 a.m. with a vote immediately after.
