Heather Patterson knows the five-hour drive from her home in Odessa to Fort Worth can be hectic. But, she’s willing to make the frequent trip to take her 5-year-old daughter, Emma, to Cook Children’s Medical Center.
Emma was diagnosed with KCNT1-related epilepsy shortly after she was born. Because of her extensive medical needs, she has been receiving care from Cook Children’s for nearly six years.
On April 18, Patterson was “absolutely speechless” to learn the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is considering an option that would dismantle her daughter’s current health plan and require her to find a new one.
The agency is seeking to remove Cook Children’s Medical Center, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, and Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi health plans from the new Medicaid STAR and CHIP contracts starting in September 2025.
“My hands started shaking, and I got nervous because of the sheer fact that, where we live, there is no pediatric ICU,” said Patterson. “To think we’ve been part of the Cook’s family for as long as we have… It’s very scary.”
Cook Children’s is protesting the decision in hopes Texas Health and Human Services overturns it. The health system filed its protest March 21.