Texas Health Institute

Across Texas, communities, health systems, policymakers, and local leaders are navigating a rapidly changing healthcare landscape while working to strengthen health in their regions and across the state. Access to timely, credible, and local data has never been more important!

Texas Health Insights is a new statewide data platform that brings together county-level data on health, healthcare, workforce, and community conditions across Texas. With more than 80 indicators across five domains, users can explore counties, compare regions, and download one-page county snapshots. While the platform makes trusted data more accessible, we recognize that data alone is not enough. If you are working on rural health, primary care, oral health, workforce, maternal health, or related efforts, please reach out to us about how this data can support your work.

Texas Health Insights was developed by Texas Health Institute with support from CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, Commonwealth Fund, Center for Community Health at Cook Children's, and Driscoll Health System.
Learn more: https://data.texashealthinstitute.org/

Clinicians, thought leaders, students, advocates, and changemakers from across Texas are convening this week in Austin for the 2026 Texas Oral Health Coalition, Inc Summit, with the theme “Reignite, Rebuild, Reimagine: Oral Health for All.” This is your last chance to register to join the conversation on expanding access to care, protecting public health through prevention, and bridging oral and overall health. https://bit.ly/txohc26

Healthcare affordability in Texas is not just about the price of a procedure or a premium. It is also shaped by whether Texans can access timely, coordinated care before health needs become more complex, fragmented, and expensive.

The inaugural hearing of the Texas House Select Committee on Healthcare Affordability marked an important step in Texas’ evolving healthcare conversation. In the latest edition of Texas Health Lens, we examine what the hearing revealed and what comes next.

https://texashealthinstitute.org/texas-health-lens-what-the-affordability-hearing-revealed-and-what-comes-next/

As summer begins, water safety is more important than ever.
Whether at the pool, lake, river, or beach, simple precautions can help prevent tragedy and keep families safe. Stay aware, supervise closely, and make water safety part of every summer plan.
Together, we can strengthen the conditions that help children and families enjoy the season safely.https://fss.hhs.texas.gov/sites/default/files/2025-06/water-safety-toolkit.pdf

Join us for a webinar to explore how oral health intersects with maternal and behavioral health throughout pregnancy, and how care teams across disciplines can work together to deliver more connected, whole-person care.
Oral Health and the Perinatal Journey is the first session in our two-part webinar series with the Texas Primary Care Consortium, Texas Oral Health Coalition, and Rural Texas Maternal Health Assembly.
Register now: bit.ly/THI0526

Together with local partners and communities, Texas Health Institute helps build stronger, healthier systems across the state.
Join our Healthy Texas Sustainers Circle today to help sustain us as the trusted, independent voice strengthening and coordinating Texas' health system.

Monthly Giving. Lasting Impact. By Texas Health Institute

Blair Williams, DrPH, MPA, MBA, CPH, and Brianna Tofel, MPH, recently had the opportunity to share about our work at the National Network of Public Health Institutes 2026 Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA.

Blair presented “From Early Exposure to Economic Mobility: Advancing Opportunity in Health Workforce Pathways in Central Texas,” while Brianna facilitated the roundtable “From Delivery to Impact: Strengthening the Evaluation of PHIG Training & Technical Assistance.”

We’re honored to contribute to this national conversation and grateful to our partners for their collaboration in strengthening public health systems and building a healthier future for all.

Improving maternal and infant health outcomes requires a whole-person, team-based approach to perinatal care that extends beyond the delivery room. In Texas, particularly in rural and underserved communities, pregnant and postpartum individuals often navigate fragmented care systems across primary care, obstetric care, oral health, behavioral health, and community supports.

Join us with Texas Primary Care Consortium, Texas Oral Health Coalition, and Rural Texas Maternal Health Assembly for a two-part webinar series exploring practical strategies for delivering integrated perinatal care and improving coordination across the care continuum.

Session 1: Oral Health and the Perinatal Journey | May 28, 2026 | Register now: https://bit.ly/THI0526
Session 2: Whole-Person Care During and After Pregnancy | June 18, 2026 | Register now: https://bit.ly/THI0626

Medical and dental care too often operate as separate systems.
Join us at the Texas Oral Health Coalition Summit for a critical discussion on what it will take to integrate medical and dental care, strengthen cross-sector collaboration, and advance more coordinated, scalable models of whole-person health across Texas and beyond. Register now to join the conversation at the 2026 TxOHC Summit! https://bit.ly/txohc26

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to recognize that mental health and physical health are deeply connected, and both are shaped by the systems and conditions around us. By strengthening the conditions that support well-being, we can help more people have more good days.
This year’s theme, More Good Days, Together, invites us to reflect on what a good day looks like, both for ourselves and for our communities. Together, we can use that insight to connect people to the right support at the right time and advance the health of all.