Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest nonprofit health system in Texas, has been undergoing a consumer-focused transformation aimed at expanding access. After hearing concerns from consumers who had and had not used the system about access gaps, it moved to offer more options — including digital and virtual care, as well as additional physical locations for urgent and emergent needs.
“One thing we heard consistently through all of that is just a need for more access,” Rob Watson, MD, chief clinical operations officer, told Becker’s. “Not just traditional access through what we would consider our large hospitals and clinics, but expanded options like digital and virtual as well as when they had an urgent need or an emergent need, more physical locations as well.”
That feedback led the health system to redesign the organization. One area that emerged was emergency access. As part of the redesign, Baylor Scott & White plans to open four new small-format emergency hospitals across North Texas — one in Dallas, one in Aledo and two in Fort Worth — over the next two years. The additions will bring the system’s total number of small-format emergency hospitals in Texas to 12. The health system is jointly developing the sites with Emerus Holdings, a Houston-based operator of neighborhood hospitals.
“They are smaller and allow us to deploy more of them in communities with identified needs, and to do so more quickly,” Dr. Watson said.
The small-format facilities are licensed hospitals with emergency departments and inpatient beds, where patients can receive emergency care, be stabilized and, if appropriate, be admitted. Patients who require a higher level of care can be transferred to one of Baylor Scott & White’s flagship facilities or larger community hospitals.
Dr. Watson said the system conducted extensive market research before selecting the locations.
“We studied the market carefully. We did not build these hospitals on top of existing facilities, whether ours or our competitors’,” he added. “We placed them in communities that lacked convenient access to emergency care.”
Another important component of the facilities is quality.
“These can’t be light versions of a hospital,” Dr. Watson said. “They can’t offer services that don’t meet the quality and safety standards that we would have in any of our facilities. You’ve got to make the full investment to make sure that if a customer or patient comes to your facility, you can meet their needs — high quality, safety. Convenience is nice, but you can’t sacrifice convenience for the other two.”
Baylor Scott & White also operates 50 urgent care facilities through a joint venture with NextCare Urgent Care. It is coming off a strong financial year, which is helping fuel its expansion strategy for 2026 and beyond.
In addition to expanding physical access points, the health system is focused on nontraditional access, including virtual urgent care and similar capabilities. Dr. Watson said this includes continued development of the MyBSWHealth app to better serve patients with chronic conditions and other needs that can be difficult to access through traditional channels.
“Within the app, we combine these access points and layer in expert guidance,” he said. “Our data show that when patients have to decide on their own where to go, they often choose the most costly form of care because they want to ensure their needs are met. When we guide them, we can often direct them to a more convenient and lower-cost option. We have a tool in the app called ‘Help Me Decide’ that supports this process.”
Looking to 2028 and beyond, Baylor Scott & White plans to continue reconfiguring the health system.
“The legacy model doesn’t meet the needs of customers and patients any longer,” Dr. Watson said. “We will continue investing in physical locations, but we will also make significant investments in virtual and digital care. These capabilities often meet patients’ needs with greater convenience, lower cost and strong outcomes.”
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