PCMC is the successor operation of Wagner General Hospital which was opened in Palacios in 1960 as a part of the Matagorda County Hospital District. Due to funding reductions and cost increases, the County Hospital District announced the closure of Wagner General Hospital in 2000. Local residents, led by the City of Palacios, were able to prevent the closure and the ownership of the physical property in Palacios was transferred to the Palacios Medical Foundation (PMF), which is a 501c3 organization. Wagner General was renamed, “Palacios Community Medical Center” in January 2001, and a new 501c3 entity (the PCMC) was organized, with a nine member Board of Directors of local citizens, who are all unpaid volunteers, to manage the 17 bed Critical Access Hospital and the Rural Health Care Clinic. In 2019 PCMC went into an affiliation with Mid Coast Health System who then took over management of the hospital and clinic. The Mid Coast Health System has a board of directors that includes several individuals form the Palacios area in addition to members from El Campo and Llano.
