Medical care in austin (Houston, San Antonio: day care, house, school)

[texas7]

Looking at potential retirement in Austin area — perhaps Georgetown. Being from Houston, we can find the best of the best in terms of physicians and medical facilities, hospitals, etc. for those of you who live there, how do you feel about your medical options in the greater Austin area? Do you have high quality providers and facilities or do you feel you have to leave the Austin area in the event of a serious condition?

[Austin97]

we go to houston for the most serious stuff (e.g. cancer, cardiac)

[ashbeeigh]

If you need specialty, breaking technology or experimental advanced treatment for anything Houston will be the best. Talk to your doctors, see if they have any recommendations for continued care. Really they should be the ones you're asking.

[centralaustinite]

Compared to thirty years ago, medical facilities have improved by leaps and bounds in Austin. So many more specialists in Austin, particularly pedi specialists now. Austin is an attractive place for many doctors.

A decade ago, my father had a heart attack in Austin, my mother's whole side of the family are in medicine, we were very happy with the care he got here. Most people I know with cancer get treated here, many do go to Houston for a second opinion, but most of the time it the Houston doctors confirm the treatment plan devised in Austin.

Houston is very close, I've known several folks who enrolled in clinical trials in Houston but were able to live most of the time in Austin.

[blakely]

I agree with Central Austinite that the quality of Austin medical care has really advanced over the past 20 years. There are some excellent specialists here, but not necessarily with the national reputation that you might find with some of the Houston providers at MDA or Texas Children's, for example. That said, our family has needed specialists ranging from neurology, cardiology, urology to rheumatology here and have been impressed with the quality of doctors we've found.

I suspect the new Dell Medical School at UT will usher in more top-notch specialists. It's a relatively new school, but I envision a positive change for our medical community as a result of having a medical school in Austin.

Now if I end up with a cancer diagnosis, you're going to find me at MD Anderson, but that would be true if I lived outside Texas. It's an outstanding cancer treatment center that people travel to from around the country and world. Driving to Houston from Austin for treatment, though, is doable and common for cancer patients in Austin. Or you could split the treatment. I have a friend who just had cancer surgery at MDA but will do the radiation treatment here in Austin.

Houston has some incredible hospitals and treatment centers that are hard to match. But for everyday care, you should be fine in Austin.

[leorah]

My husband has chronic cardiac arrhythmia, which was diagnosed before the age of 50, which is unusually young. At the time he was diagnosed, we were living near Boston where he was treated by some of the top electrophysiologists in the world. When we moved back to Texas, he needed new doctors. In 2008 the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin recruited one of the top cardiac doctors in the country as its director, and the care my husband has experienced there has been every bit as good as what he received at the best teaching hospitals in New England. Conveniently, his Austin doctors have regular office hours in Georgetown, and the continuity of care between our local hospital and his Austin doctors has been excellent. For cancer, MD Anderson is undoubtedly the best, but for many other medical issues, very competent care can be found in the Austin area.

[77030]

Hey Texas7, I recognize your user name from the Houston board!

We just moved here from Houston ourselves. Actually, won't be full time until the end of the school year. But we've already bought a place in Lakeway and spend our weekends here.

My wife has been diagnosed with ALS. Our old house is walking distance to the Medical Center in Houston. We now see a doctor here in Lakeway as our PCP, and have specialists in Austin and San Antonio. We are getting much better care here.

That's my 2 cents, for what it's worth.