Oklahoma City hospital administrators have to be skilled jugglers to balance the needs of medical staff, patients, and operations to keep their hospitals running smoothly.
Healthcare is more complex than ever and ever changing. Oklahoma City hospital administrators have been up to the challenge. Here is a look at three of the top hospital administrators in Oklahoma City.
- Bruce Lawrence, President and CEO, Integris Health – Lawrence heads up Integris Health, which is the largest health care system in Oklahoma. It includes 15 hospitals across the state and has over 9,000 employees. He served as Vice President of the Baptist Health System in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Senior Vice President and COO of Baptist Health in Montgomery, Alabama, before joining Integris. Prior to becoming President and CEO, he served as president of two of the Integris centers, and as Executive Vice President and COO of the Integris system. Under Lawrence’s leadership, Integris Health has won numerous prestigious awards for excellence. Among the awards Integris hospitals received in 2015 were Women’s Choice Awards for being one of the top in the nation for emergency care, heart care, and obstetrics.
- Jim Gebhart, President, Mercy Hospital – Prior to becoming president at Mercy Hospital, he served as Executive Vice President and COO of a health care system in Texas, and later as Senior Executive Vice President and COO of another Texas system. In 2009, he took the position at Mercy where he oversees Mercy OKC and surrounding hospitals in the Mercy system. Mercy is nationally recognized for its stroke program and embraces technology with its electronic health records and free online program that allows individuals to manage their health information on their computers and smartphones. Under Gebhart’s leadership, Mercy OKC has been the annual winner of the best medical facility as voted by the readers of Oklahoma City’s newspaper, The Oklahoman.
- Joe Hodges, CEO, SSM Healthcare of Oklahoma – SSM Health Care is a network that includes St. Anthony, two St. Anthony Healthplexes, the Bone and Joint Hospital at St. Anthony, the Healthfirst Physician Management Service, and 20 affiliated hospitals. Hodges started as a part-time employee in the business office at St. Anthony Hospital and after a number of promotions became President of St. Anthony within 13 years. In 2012, he became CEO of SSM Healthcare. It was under Hodges’ leadership that St. Anthony became affiliated with the 20 rural hospitals and opened the two Healthplexes. SSM Healthcare of Oklahoma has been recognized with the Oklahoma Quality Award for Excellence.
Bottom Line
These three hospital administrators have much in common. They all have a Masters degree in Health Care Administration, and they are each responsible for more than one hospital in Oklahoma City. Under their leadership, their institutions have gained recognition for innovation and service.
Another common tie is an interest in the community, as shown by their involvement on numerous boards, community organizations, and civic groups.
Who would you nominate as one of the top Oklahoma City hospital administrators? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments box below.
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