Connect Newsletter (June 25, 2026)

View Changes to Medical Benefits Beginning Oct. 1

We have an important update to share about your medical benefits.

Starting Oct. 1, 2026, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) will become Cook Children’s new medical insurance carrier. This change is part of our ongoing commitment to care for our team and their families—just as thoughtfully as we all care for our patients. 

While this is a big change, the goal is simple: To give our teammates more choice and help keep the cost of health care manageable. Please visit Connect Newsroom to learn more about why we are making this change and get helpful resources during this transition. 

CareShare Update: Your Feedback in Action

At Cook Children’s, we regularly seek employee feedback to better understand what’s working well and where we can improve. Because of feedback, we are pleased to share new changes to the CareShare program. 

“CareShare continues to be one of the ways we recognize our collective efforts towards fulfilling our promise,” said Merridth Simpson, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer. “These updates help ensure the program reflects our shared success as an organization.”

To see what is changing about the CareShare program, visit Connect Newsroom. 

2026 Market Review Update 

We are taking another major step toward advancing our compensation plan and our Promise to regularly review pay to ensure competitiveness and the ability to attract and retain our valued employees.

Now that we have communicated the new Cook Children’s Compensation Philosophy which was created with our core values in mind and completed the external market assessment, we have a better understanding of how the external market rates impact how we deliver pay.

On average, the market assessment results support our goal of paying competitively across all job categories —meaning the majority of our workforce is currently paid at a competitive rate.

If you are not receiving a market adjustment that is an indication that your pay is competitive for the role you perform each day. For others, the market adjustment is the opportunity to increase pay rates for individuals who are paid less than a competitive rate, subject to the following criteria:

• Non-executive, non-physician, PRN, Pool, and Flat Rate positions.
• Regular status (excludes temporary, contingent, or contractor roles).
• Employees in good standing (e.g., no pending final written warnings).
• Employees who have strong or better performance over last two performance and development cycles

Key Dates:

• June 28, 2026 
  Effective date (visibility date will be mid-July) for employees who will receive an adjustment
• July 6, 2026
  Pay changes visible to Leaders.  Leaders will be able to discuss outcomes with employees
• July 13, 2026 
  Employees who receive an adjustment will see the pay change in Workday
• July 17, 2026 
  Pay changes reflected in paychecks for those employees who receive an adjustment

Thank you for your work in caring for our patients and your dedication in helping Cook Children’s deliver on our pinky promise — everything for the child. 

Retirements

Join us in congratulating staff members who are retiring from Cook Children's this summer: 

• Nancy Russell, Nursing Quality Improvement Coordinator, is retiring after 41 years on July 2 - Please join us for a celebration on Wednesday, July 1 in the Hochberger Auditorium Pre-function Area from 2 - 4 p.m.
• Bessie Payton, Unit Secretary of 5 Main, is retiring is retiring after 47 years on July 10.

To read more about Nancy and Bessie along with other recent retirees please visit Team Experience's Retirement CookNet page. 

Share Your Content with Us

Do you have any tips, ideas or content you would like us to know about? We want to hear from you! Please view our SharePoint site and email us at InternalCommunications@cookchildrens.org. 

Check our CookNet calendar for more system-wide events and to find more content about our employees and news you need to know, bookmark our Connect Newsroom website.