UT Health San Antonio’s first inpatient hospital expands mission to serve South Texas
In the year since the UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital opened its doors in December 2024, expansion of the institution’s healthcare expertise and services and its delivery of quality patient care for the community have only gained momentum.
Among the hospital’s many milestone accomplishments:
- Earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval — a top national symbol of credibility and trust that reflects the hospital’s excellence in safety, rigorous performance standards and high-quality patient care.
- Opened a dedicated oncology unit, staffed by a specialized cancer care team providing inpatient chemotherapy and full-spectrum cancer care.
- Established a Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy program, a critical community need and region-defining service that will deliver advanced immunotherapies and specialized care for patients with blood cancers and blood disorders.
- Launched UT Health San Antonio’s first Blood Donor Center, ensuring life-saving blood availability for surgeries, blood disorders and cancer care.
- Expanded access to an Advanced Care Clinic for UT Health San Antonio primary care patients and patients with cancer who need immediate advanced evaluation or hospital-level care.
- Performed procedures spanning multiple specialties, including orthopaedic total joint replacement and complex spine surgery, as well as advanced oncologic procedures such as robotic lymph node dissection for testicular cancer.
- Became the first hospital in Texas to advance safer, multimodal pain management by deploying a new FDA-approved non-opioid pain medication following orthopaedic and podiatric surgeries.
- Opened recruitment for the hospital’s first inpatient phase 2 cancer clinical trial, expanding access to promising new therapies and advancing cancer research and treatment in South Texas.
The hospital is part of a comprehensive network of inpatient and outpatient care locations across the region that comprise UT Health San Antonio, the clinical care and clinical research health system of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Collectively, UT Health San Antonio medical, dental, nursing and allied health professionals conduct more than 2.5 million patient visits annually.
Modeling high-tech service
The UT Health San Antonio Multispecialty and Research Hospital incorporates innovative pharmacy technologies, including robotic couriers, personalized automated dispensing cabinets and pneumatic tube systems for faster delivery of medications. Among other operational efficiency efforts, clinical lab services across all UT Health San Antonio patient care locations are now consolidated at the hospital’s 24/7 laboratory to support inpatient and high-volume outpatient care and provide faster diagnoses to improve patient outcomes.
Pioneering new treatments
UT Health San Antonio neurologists are among the nation’s first to use technology enabling deep brain stimulation that adapts as symptoms change. Known as DBS, deep brain stimulation is the placement of electrodes in the brain connected to a battery-operated generator in the chest similar to a cardiac pacemaker. A small impulse of electricity moves from the generator to the electrodes to stimulate a specific area of the brain, relieving some symptoms and side effects for those with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, epilepsy and essential tremor conditions.
Until now, those electrical impulses had to be manually adjusted with doctor visits for those with implanted sensing DBS generators. The new adaptive DBS technology essentially is a software update that sets the generator battery to continually adjust stimulation based on the patient’s symptoms, using a tablet like an iPad that connects through Bluetooth.
Leading recovery support for opioid use disorder
Be Well Texas, an initiative of the Be Well Institute on Substance Use and Related Disorders at UT San Antonio, has been selected by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to lead a major expansion of opioid use disorder recovery support services across the state. The initiative is part of a broader strategy aimed at reducing overdose deaths and building a lasting recovery infrastructure. The funding enables Be Well Texas and its partners across the state to expand treatment access, improve continuity of care and reach both rural and urban communities most in need with lifesaving services.
As the lead agency, Be Well Texas will provide technical expertise, oversight and implementation support through a comprehensive network of treatment, recovery and provider engagement programs backed by the Be Well Institute’s clinical and public health experience. Since 2021, the Be Well Texas initiative has served as a trusted partner in the state’s overdose prevention efforts.
Additionally, the Be Well Clinic, a flagship program of the Be Well Institute, delivers compassionate, evidence-based care for individuals starting or continuing their recovery journey through both in-person and statewide telehealth services. The clinic recently expanded to include comprehensive care for adolescents and young adults as young as 11, ensuring youth and families have early access to high-quality, integrated treatment.
Separately, the Be Well Institute has launched Nalaxone Texas, which distributes free, lifesaving opioid overdose medication and training to individuals and organizations throughout the state. Recently, Naloxone Texas has increased partnerships with colleges and universities to share resources and training with students, faculty and staff. Naloxone, known commercially as Narcan, is a fast-acting medication that reverses an opioid overdose and has saved countless lives.
These initiatives are supported with funding from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Department of State Health Services and the state legislature.
Powering athletic performance
UT Health San Antonio is the official sports medicine partner of the San Antonio Missions, marking the latest in a series of partnerships that support athletes at every level. The partnership with UT Health San Antonio’s nationally recognized sports medicine program builds on similar collaborations with the San Antonio Spurs and UTSA Athletics and gives Missions players access to the institution’s full network of specialists and services, including advanced diagnostics and imaging and rehabilitation services.
Advancing life-saving cancer care
UT Health San Antonio’s Mays Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center serving South Texas, is also the only provider in South Texas offering a novel targeted molecular therapy using a radioactive drug to fight metastatic prostate cancer. Whereas chemotherapy kills both cancer cells and good cells throughout the entire body, this new treatment binds to and kills only prostate cancer cells.
The new treatment is a game changer for men who have failed multiple other types of treatment including chemotherapy. In 2025, Mays Cancer Center was named among the nation’s leading hospitals and health systems for excellence in oncology programs by Becker’s Hospital Review. This list highlights cancer centers led by world-renowned experts who are driving innovation, ensuring patient safety and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in cancer treatment and research.