FORNEY, Texas — Texas hospitals have been on the minds of federal, state and local leaders this summer.

Just last week, Gov. Greg Abbott signed two bills into law to improve health care in rural communities. And two weeks before that, Abbott held a rural health care roundtable with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Austin.

Both touted President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its Rural Health Transformation Program, which will deliver $50 billion in rural health support across the United States. They also touted recent investments in rural health care at both the state and federal levels.

With the ceremonial groundbreaking and lifting of the dirt, Forney Mayor Jason Roberson and those in his city are now closer to opening the doors to a new hospital he says that has been a long time coming.

“Fifteen years ago we were living here in Kaufman County, and we had to drive down 175 at breakneck, you know, pace trying to get my pregnant wife to the hospital,” said Roberson.

Roberson and his family have lived in Forney, east of Dallas, for nearly two decades.

After being reelected this year as the city’s mayor, he’s bringing the first full-service acute care hospital to this fast-growing Dallas suburb.

“I’m so grateful that now women will be able to go right here in Forney and have their babies,” said Roberson.

Now, people in Forney looking to expand their families in the next two years or who have other health-related issues won’t have to leave.

“Kaufman County is one of the fastest-growing counties, and Forney is where a lot of that growth is happening. We’re seeing increased population in this area,” said Toya White, president and chief nursing officer at Texas Health Kaufman and president of Texas Health Forney.

While Forney is on a journey of growth with its first full-service hospital, other cities are hoping the doors of their hospitals stay open.

“There are 157 rural hospitals in Texas, and as I indicated, this University of North Carolina report predicted potentially that 15 of those could close, that’s almost 10%,” said Stephen Love, president & CEO at Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.

Nearly 100 urban and rural hospitals in North Texas are under Love’s umbrella. He says that even with the millions and billions of dollars being touted recently for rural hospitals, that’s just a drop in the bucket.

“We do appreciate the governor freeing up what money he can for rural hospitals, but the One Big Beautiful Bill is gonna make reductions to Medicaid, and as a result, it’s gonna really impact rural hospitals,” said Love.

As Roberson and the rest of Forney prepare for their first-ever full-service hospital in 2027, he’s hopeful the doors will stay open for years to come.

Over the summer, Becker’s Hospital Review reported that nearly 800 rural hospitals in the U.S. are at risk of closing because of financial problems, with approximately 40% of those hospitals at immediate risk.

Texas had the highest number of rural hospitals at risk of closing, with 84.

This month, a new study by the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council found that North Texas hospitals provide an economic impact of $47 billion to the region — a nearly $9 billion increase from a similar study in 2022.