There are many ways hospitals support the North Texas community. They offer programs designed to help with housing, they work with residents to access healthy food, they provide numerous educational programs, and they offer healthcare screenings. These combined efforts affect the community’s health and well-being.

In addition, a report released today by the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC) shows healthcare to be one of the most prominent contributors to the North Texas economy with an economic impact of $47 billion to the region, an $8.6 billion increase from a similar study conducted by DFWHC in 2022.

The report details how hospitals not only have a profound impact on the economy, but they support emergency preparedness for all types of disasters, provide education for the next generation of caregivers and invest in cutting-edge technology. In 2024, the North Texas hospitals provided 748,561 inpatient admissions and 8.4 million outpatient visits, according to the report. The hospitals also provided approximately $6.9 billion in uncompensated care.

“Hospitals are some of the largest employers in the communities they serve and have a very positive impact on the economic growth in those communities,” said Stephen Love, president/CEO of DFWHC. “These numbers show North Texas hospitals do much more than just provide medical services. The employment and income generated and the ripple effect in other businesses throughout the economy are enormous.”

The study was commissioned by DFWHC’s Board of Trustees, made up of executives from North Texas hospitals, and created by Ann K. Peton, director of the National Center for Rural Health Works (NCRHW) and the National Center for the Analysis of Healthcare Data.

Titled “The 2024 Economic Impact Studies of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council North Texas Hospitals upon the State of Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth Area,” the study detailed the numbers generated by North Texas hospitals was $31.9 billion in labor income, $7.4 billion in retail sales and $7.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes. DFWHC-member hospitals also generated 391,758 jobs in 2024, an increase from 372,988 in 2022.

There were 89 hospitals participating in the study including facilities from Baylor Scott & White Health, Kindred Healthcare, Medical City Healthcare, Methodist Health System, Texas Health Resources, Children’s Health, Cook Children’s Health Care System, JPS Health Network, Parkland Health, Scottish Rite for Children and UT Southwestern University Hospitals.

Using a modeling methodology created by NCRHW that measures the business transactions of all industries within a hospital’s service area, DFWHC’s region and in the state, the study measures the economic contribution of the hospitals and their employees’ spending while calculating the number of jobs and income created as a secondary effect.

“Hospitals are economic engines and generate huge financial impacts for the communities they serve,” Love said. “Economic developers frequently seek manufacturing and high technology industries that will create new jobs. The activities of the DFWHC-member hospitals are attracting these industries and must be recognized as a large contributor to the economy.”

According to Love, policies should be adopted to encourage the economic impact generated by hospitals to ensure continued economic growth for North Texas and the state.