Jim Gebhart, a native of western Oklahoma, has served as the President of Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City since July 2009.  His responsibilities include the oversight of Mercy Hospitals in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Watonga, El Reno, Kingfisher, Seiling, Guthrie and the Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital. Jim held a similar position in Waco, Texas for seven years prior to relocating to Oklahoma City.  

Jim is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University, where he earned a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. He also holds a Master’s degree from the University of Dallas Graduate School of Management in Healthcare Administration. Jim is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater OKC United Way, Oklahoma Hospital Association, Oklahoma Heart Hospitals and Oklahoma March of Dimes. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Oklahoma Baptist University.

Jim is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board for the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, a $1 billion endowment aimed at improving the health of Oklahoma residents.  He has been a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives since 2007, graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City (XXIX) as well as Leadership Oklahoma (XXVIII).  Jim has served as an advisor to the country of Rwanda for its national health programs and has worked with the Minister of Health of Rwanda for 3 years to improve healthcare in this region of Africa. Jim was recently named the 2015 Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians’ Patient Advocate of the year.
 
Synopsis
Improving Culture and Employee Engagement with Lean Tools
Mercy Hospital of Oklahoma City improved its co-worker engagement substantially in a relatively short amount of time using Lean Tools and Methods.  These include daily improvement boards, regular huddles, stat sheets and other tactics.  As a result of these efforts employee engagement results showed significant improvement in all areas measured. Learn how Mercy leaders used Lean to impact the culture at this 400 bed hospital in Oklahoma City, a highly competitive healthcare market.

Virtual Medicine:  Redefining Health Care
Mercy has demonstrated that health outcomes and cost can be positively impacted with the use of virtual medicine.  This discussion will focus on how Mercy has employed these healthcare strategies, including the development of the United States’ first dedicated Virtual Care Center.