Texas United Methodist bishops learn
about Methodist Healthcare Ministries

United Methodist bishops from across the state learned about healthcare ministries with underserved residents of South Texas Sept. 21 in San Antonio.
Bishop Joel N. Martinez of San Antonio invited his four Texas colleagues to visit the South Texas Medical Center to learn about Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas. The goal was to let other bishops know how they might form similar ministries in their episcopal areas.
Methodist Healthcare Ministries, a nonprofit organization that owns half a for-profit hospital system, is unique in the church, Martinez said.
Methodist Healthcare Ministries was established in 1995 as a successor to the Southwest Texas Methodist Hospital corporation in San Antonio. Methodist Healthcare Ministries owns 50 percent of the for-profit Methodist Healthcare System in San Antonio and Boerne. The other partner is Hospital Corporation of America.
Methodist Healthcare Ministries uses its share of profits from the hospital system to provide healthcare annually to nearly 350,000 people in need across the southern third of Texas. That care is delivered through clinics, community centers and church-based community nursing programs.
Since 1996, Methodist Healthcare Ministries has spent more than $139 million on healthcare. That makes it the largest private healthcare provider for the indigent in the region.
Visiting bishops and their assistants heard about Methodist Healthcare Ministries’ mission, organization and impact on South Texas. Speakers included Taylor Boone, chair of the Methodist Hospital board when Methodist Healthcare Ministries was formed in 1995; George Scofield, the attorney who helped create the corporate structure; and Kevin C. Moriarty, ministries president since 1996.
“Our vision changed from providing the best hospital to serving the medial needs of the underserved,” Moriarty told visiting bishops. “We are working one-on-one in the community to change people’s lives. But we are also out there changing the way the city, the county and the state operate. That’s our public policy work.”
The United Methodist Social Principles guide how Methodist Healthcare Ministries serves the region and delivers services to individuals, Moriarty said.
Besides Martinez, leader of the Rio Grande and Southwest Texas conferences, bishops attending the session were:
+ Ben Chamness, Fort Worth, Central Texas Conference.
+ Janice Riggle Huie, Houston, Texas Conference.
+ Alfred L. Norris, Dallas, North Texas Conference.
+ D. Max Whitfield, Albuquerque, N.M., Northwest Texas and New Mexico conferences.