Executive Q&A with Craig W. Jones: Oklahoma hospital exec follows clear path to health care career
"Instead of tacks, I used to post pictures of the respective hospital CEOs," said Jones who, when he retires
From his offices at 4000
Q: Tell us about your roots.
A: My parents were both from
Q: What was the highlight of your school days?
A: Primarily music. I sang in the chorus and played and sang secondary roles in my high school musicals, including "The Music Man," "South Pacific" and "Camelot." In college, I even sang in the opera "Carmen."
Q: You said you followed a very clear path to your career in health care administration. How so?
A: When I was teenager, my father served as chairman of the board for the hospital in
Q: What prompted you to join
A: Chance. Hillcrest's director of volunteers had served in the hospital auxiliary at
Q: And your transition to
A: Similarly, I wasn't looking to change jobs. But on behalf of the OHA board, former OHA President
Q: What are your proudest contributions as
A: When I started, OHA -- in response to the more than 2,000 state bills introduced every year -- largely was playing defense: What legislation did we want to kill or keep from happening? But the association became more focused on developing initiatives for the health and well-being of our communities. For example, we, in 2004, lobbied to quadruple the tobacco tax, while eliminating the general sales tax on tobacco products, to supplement funding to state trauma centers. Similarly, in 2011, the association supported a supplemental hospital offset payment program, where hospitals now "tax" themselves annually, so that the state doesn't lose hundreds of millions of dollars in matching federal funds toward Medicaid health insurance for the needy. We teamed up with the
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