District 6 Town Hall Discussion 8/25 K.Agee

about TAP Telehealth’s Contract

The City of Garland and District 6’s Council Representative Carissa Dutton hosted a Town Hall meeting Thursday evening, 8/28/25 at the Hollabaugh Rec Center, starting at 6:30 p.m., running until approximately 8:15 p.m.  The entire focus was on the recently approved contract with a telehealth service called TAP Telehealth, which is run by a Dallas-based entity called MD Health Pathways, Inc.

Starting sometime in late spring or early summer of 2026, residents of Garland will have a new $6/month fee added to their utility bills.  This will provide the revenue for an innovative telehealth service that was founded by Dirk Perritt, MD, who got the inspiration for this system after working in a Garland emergency room.  He noticed how many people were using the service for issues that could have been resolved over the phone or via text messages and decided to see if he could devise such a system. He has proven it could work by implementing it in the city of Ferris TX (in 2022) and subsequently the cities of Crandall, Henderson, and Paradise TX.  The cost per month, in the long term, is based on the “opt-in rate”, and Garland’s rate will initially be $6/month, although it is expected to rise to $9/year as more people opt-out of the program (the city of Ferris settled to around 80% participation rate +/-10%). 

This financing model caused by far the most complaints from the audience, with many people feeling it was unfair to sign residents up without first getting their consent.  Apparently, this model has been studied by Garland’s legal counsel and is deemed to be legal, but the feeling is that the City should have polled more residents before signing onto such an expensive proposition.  There will be several ways for residents to opt out, but at this point, no funds are being extracted through the utility bills.

Another point of contention was the fact that apartment complexes apparently get a huge price break, because the monthly (flat rate) fee is based on the meters, and apartment complexes often do NOT have one meter per apartment.  This seems to be in the contract, although Dr. Perritt seems to indicate that they might be able to modify the contract. 

This telehealth service will be primarily a text-based system, so someone in the household will need to be able to communicate in that way and possibly attach photos of the patient as needed. Normal hours will probably be 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. (including weekends & holidays), with a pilot program starting this fall, for 10,000 residents.  Pilot program hours are expected to be from 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.  The advice will be from either an M.D. or a Physician’s Assistant (essentially a master’s degree in medicine) with the target ratio of 1 MD to 3 PAs. 

Aside from helping free up emergency room resources, it is expected to be a great help for our uninsured residents, which number in the 22-28% range.  Dr. Perritt says that history has shown that 97% of their calls can be handled through this telehealth text-based method, at least to the point that the patient can be stabilized until they can visit a family physician.  This is achieved mainly through their ability to ask the right questions and send prescriptions to the patient’s pharmacy of choice at a discounted (noninsurance) rate, or thru services like Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs service.  With consent of the patient, the telehealth doctors and PAs will be able to see the patient’s pharmacy history via the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP). This is similar to the way ERs operate. 

Dialog between the patient and telehealth service will be kicked off by having someone in the household send a text to a telehealth phone number (number to be disclosed at a later date), and they will be texted back with a link that lets that person register the first time they use it.  Registration can also be done before an actual need arises, and each household can register up to 10 members (it will be their responsibility to keep their lists current).  The “patient” (could be another family member) is expected to describe the problem, at which point a physician or PA will answer the text.  Ideally, they will be able to write a prescription, but there are limits on items like narcotics, etc.  The patient will probably be advised to see their family doctor, and the telehealth service has committed to call back within 48 hours before they close-out the case. 

There should be much more information being presented by the city as the date approaches, and by the service provider, but in the meantime, people who already know they want to opt-out of the service can email optout@garland.tx.gov, providing the name on their utility bill, address, phone #, and preferably the Account Number listed on their bill.  Also, please be on the lookout for newer information directly from the City of Garland, by way of the City Press mailer, the COG website, or through other districts’ town halls (ours has already occurred).  The service provider (TAP Telehealth) also has a website that should have additional information from their side at this location:  https://www.taptelehealth.com/garland/