McAllen Medical Center

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McAllen Medical Center is a hospital in McAllen, Texas, United States. It is the flagship hospital of the South Texas Health System. It is owned by Universal Health Services, a Pennsylvania-based hospital management company.McAllen is a tertiary care regional provider. It offers advanced wound care, maternity care including a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), neurosurgery, orthopedics, and oncology. It is the designated advanced Level III Trauma Center for Hidalgo County. Since 2011 it has been the base for emergency helicopter service throughout the Rio Grande Valley. In cooperation with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, McAllen offers a three-year residency in Family Practice.In a 2015 peer-reviewed study ranking the United States' most expensive hospitals South Texas Health System, which owns hospitals including McAllen, was ranked as the 48th most expensive, charging roughly 9.2 times the amount procedures cost. This figure is disputed by STHS.HistoryMcAllen Medical Center was established in 1985 by merging three pre-existing hospitals: McAllen Municipal Hospital, McAllen General Hospital, and McAllen Methodist Hospital. In 2011 McAllen Medical Center bought Knapp Medical Center, a hospital in Weslaco.RecognitionMcAllen Medical Center has won several awards in the years it has been operating. It was named Rio Grande Valley Hispanic Chamber Hospital of the Year in 2011. Its maternity ward has won awards such as recognition as a Texas Ten-Step facility in 2013 and 2015 for promoting breast feeding, and recognition from the March of Dimes for reducing elective inductions and c-sections prior to 39 weeks.