HB 1898/Children’s Psychiatric Bed Capacity Expansion Grants

House Bill 1898 will establish state grants for children’s hospitals, including Clarity, to expand their psychiatric bed capacity. Pre-pandemic, our 66-bed hospital was already stretched close to capacity, but the climate of the last few years has exacerbated the issue. The stressors of economic instability, online education, isolation, and familial deaths due to COVID have created unprecedented challenges for our kids. 

• Between 2020-2022, Clarity’s inpatient admissions increased 12%, the increase capped only by our bed capacity.
• Since September 2020, Clarity’s average bed unavailability was 11-28% based on gender and age.
• In 2022, our own Crisis Assessment Service had 633 kids (52/month) determined to need inpatient care that had to wait for an available bed.
• Emergency rooms hold kids awaiting our morning discharges for bed availability and transfer.

This bill will be up for vote in the Texas House this Monday, April 17th. Please reach out to your House Representative and ask them to support the passage of HB 1898! You can find your delegate here.

 If you have any questions, please contact Chris Bryan, Vice President of Public Policy, at chris.bryan@claritycgc.org.

 Thank you,

Clarity Child Guidance Center

www.claritycgc.org