New arrivals to San Antonio can find some of the best health care in the world at their fingertips. This international and historic city is home to the finest diagnoses and treatments for the complete spectrum of human disease and frailty. For example, San Antonio can boast of  

The national Women’s Health Initiative, coordinated by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Texas Health Science Center, studying thousands of women ages 50 to 79 years to help reduce coronary heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer and bone fractures among postmenopausal women;

Two of the largest men’s health/prostate studies in the world being led by Dr. Ian Thompson;

The research team that invented the first stent to hold open clogged arteries, now used in millions of patients and being redesigned to interact more therapeutically with the body’s own tissue; Two of the largest children’s hospitals dedicated to saving lives: CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital and the largest children’s hospital in South Texas, Methodist Children’s Hospital.

The two largest military hospitals in the world – Brooke Army Medical Center and Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center;

The largest liver transplant program in Texas, conducted by surgeons at University Hospital and the UT Health Science Center;

The brain imaging team coordinating the global project to map human brain function;

The genetics team that led the mapping of human chromosome three, site of many inherited diseases;

Children’s Cancer Research Center, supported by a $200 million endowment and operating in the South Texas Medical Center;

The first use of radioactive seed implants to treat breast cancer in the nation performed at Methodist Hospital

The Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging. The research team, a part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is now number one in the nation in number of federal grants received for aging studies;

Unique collaboration between the CHRISTUS Transplant Institute and Brooke Army Medical Center’s cardiac transplant program (the U.S. Department of Defense’s only heart transplant program), to serve military personnel.

Innovative orthopedic joint replacement program and CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Medical Center.

Many other leading scientists and caregivers in all fields of medicine, dentistry, nursing and allied health.

San Antonio has an ample supply of physicians, dentists and allied health personnel thanks to military and civilian patient care and health education programs. Courses of study include undergraduate university health education courses offered through the Alamo Community College District, The University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of the Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Lake University, St. Mary’s University, hospital-based certificate programs, and others; and the schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, graduate biomedical sciences and allied health under the umbrella of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. 

The city is a leader in organ transplantation with major transplant teams including those at CHRISTUS Transplant Institute (affiliated with the UT Health Science Center and Brooke Army Medical Center ), Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital, Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio/University Health System.  

In the private healthcare setting, the Texas Transplant Institute located at the Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital is the largest kidney transplant service in Texas, and one of the three largest in the nation. The first Medicare approved heart transplants were also performed in this nationally respected institution. 

Major Facilities

The health care and biomedical industry in San Antonio employs more than a hundred thousand people and accounts for more than 16 percent of total wages paid in the city. The sprawling South Texas Medical Center in northwest San Antonio includes the publicly funded University Hospital and its Level One Trauma Center, and branches of the city’s three major faith-based hospital systems – Methodist Healthcare, Baptist Health System, and the Catholic CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health Care. Also in the medical center are the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, now a part of the UT Health Science Center, San Antonio Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital, the Child Guidance Center of San Antonio, and many other clinics, offices and agencies. 

Major hospitals are also found in all other quadrants of the city, including the Nix Health Care System and its Nix Medical Center downtown; CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital and CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital downtown; Baptist Medical Center downtown, Southeast Baptist, Northeast Baptist and North Central Baptist Hospitals; others of the Methodist Healthcare System’s 22 hospitals and clinics, including Metropolitan Methodist Hospital near downtown and Northeast Methodist Hospital; San Antonio State Hospital; and Southwest General Hospital. 

Nursing care facilities and home health services in all price ranges are plentiful in San Antonio and many include state-of-the-art care for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s and other dementias. 

The Military Presence

The South Texas Veterans Health Care System offers full service inpatient care at the Audie Murphy Hospital in the South Texas Medical Center and outpatient care in numerous programs. Surgery, psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine including spinal cord injury treatment, and geriatrics are just a few of the many specialties covered by the VA in San Antonio. 

BAMC is probably best known for its burn unit, judged the best in the world. It is a part of the U.S. Army Medical Command, which manages all army hospitals and dental facilities in the United States and Europe. 

Wilford Hall is the Air Force’s largest medical facility and includes a Level One Trauma Center that treats civilians as well as military patients. 

Finding a Physician or Dentist

How does a newcomer find their Dr. Kildare or a good old-fashioned doctor in San Antonio? There are several methods. One technique is to select an office near your home from the yellow pages, or from a friend’s recommendation. This may be quite successful, and if not, you can move on to another health care provider. 

In the twenty-first century, another key factor in selecting a provider is determining whether or not your health care insurance is acceptable to them. Review your HMO, comprehensive or other coverage for specifications and ask the provider you are interested in if their office or treatment group accepts what you have. No insurance? Many health care providers, including Bexar County’s University Health System with its University Hospital, and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District’s neighborhood clinics have a sliding fee scale and charge patients based on their ability to pay. All private church related health care providers also have an excellent reputation for accepting uninsured and under-insured patients. Another very unique resource for the underserved population in the region is the Methodist Healthcare Ministries, a not-for-profit owner of the Methodist Healthcare System - largest health care provider in South Texas. Methodist Healthcare Ministries, through their clinics and community work, is now the largest provider of primary care health services to the underserved in South Texas. 

“Alternative” Care

As with any large American city today, San Antonio has its share of state-licensed acupuncture clinics, herbalists, chiropractors, reflexologists and other “alternative” health care providers. The Medical School has recently added a Center for Integrative Health to foster research and education on the safety, use and effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine practices and to promote cost-effective, evidence-based integration of safe alternative medicine therapies. The Center seeks to educate both medical students and the general public. 

There is no need to travel away from San Antonio for the latest health care of any kind. From gene therapy to correct genetic deficiencies, to state-of-the-art prosthetic limbs with fingers that can move on thought command, to organ transplantation, to studies regrowing replacement teeth, arteries and other body parts, San Antonio is at the forefront of the human health care industry.