A Regional Coalition for Scalable, Sustainable Health Solutions
The Beacon Alliance is a regional coalition formed to extend the mission of The Beacon beyond its physical footprint. It includes hospitals, universities, government agencies, and community partners working together to create scalable, sustainable improvements in health access and equity across the Permian Basin.
The Alliance represents a bold, region-wide approach to solving some of the most persistent challenges in rural and regional health delivery—coordinating efforts across counties and communities to build a truly integrated health ecosystem.
Key Regional Initiatives
Regional EMS Coordination
The Beacon Alliance is advancing plans for a state-of-the-art EMS coordination and dispatch center to serve the full Permian Basin. This initiative will standardize protocols and equipment across jurisdictions, improve communication among EMS providers, and expand regional backup and patient transfer fleets. A key component is the development of a regional EMS support center, which will help address critical rural workforce shortages—particularly in communities that currently rely on volunteer EMTs. Together, these efforts aim to reduce emergency response times, streamline care transitions, and enhance overall regional preparedness.
Regional Rural Health Improvement Through Innovation
Led by Dr. Deborah Birx and Irum Zaidi of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC), the Regional Rural Health Improvement initiative is delivering innovative low-cost, data-driven healthcare strategies tailored to underserved rural communities. The program begins with intensive, community-level health surveys—first conducted in Crane County and now expanding into Pecos County—designed to gather accurate, local health data in place of outdated state modeling. Based on these insights, the team develops targeted interventions such as telemedicine, electronic monitoring, and mobile outreach programs. Early findings from Crane County revealed significant underreporting of chronic conditions, including a
50% obesity rate, 62% prevalence of high blood pressure, 22% diabetes, and another 36% pre-diabetic (58% total at risk), with nearly a quarter of residents reporting no healthcare visits in the previous year. With funding support from the FMH Foundation, this scalable model offers a path to improved health outcomes across the widely dispersed populations
of the Permian Basin.
For more information, contact Heather Pumphrey: Heather.Pumphrey@ttuhsc.edu.
Behavioral Health Integration
The Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center (PBBHC) is a flagship regional facility under construction at The Beacon, designed to provide comprehensive inpatient and outpatient mental health services for individuals of all ages. This $232 million project is a joint effort led by the Ector and Midland County Hospital Districts and will serve as the new teaching hospital for TTUHSC’s psychiatry program. The 200-bed center is accessible via a newly constructed arterial boulevard (Don Evans Way) funded by Midland County, reinforcing its role as a central component of the region’s healthcare infrastructure. With its grand opening in May 2026, PBBHC directly addresses longstanding gaps in behavioral health access and rising demand for specialized mental health care across the Permian Basin.
Join the Alliance
As the Beacon Alliance continues to grow, it will welcome new partners across sectors:
Local and regional hospitals
County governments
Public health agencies
Nonprofits and philanthropy
Regional coalitions and care providers
Our shared goal is to build a unified, data-informed, and community-driven regional health system—one that works as well for remote ranching communities as it does for
Midland-Odessa residents. Interested in joining the Alliance?
