At age 16 while growing up in the Greenville, S.C. area, he already knew he wanted to be involved working with people in some form of the medical profession.

The son of a radiologist, 31-year-old Jared Smith is the new chief executive officer (CEO) at UT Health Quitman. He has a bachelor’s degree in health science from Clemson University and is a big fan of Tiger football. Immediately after graduating from Clemson he moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and earned a master’s of science in health administration. 

During a summer graduate internship, he served at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. “I spent a summer there and that was my introduction to Texas. I really liked it in Texas and at the time could see myself returning here at some point,” Smith said.

Smith started working in the profession soon after he finished at UAB.

“Once I finished with my master’s program, I actually joined up with Community Health Systems and spent the last seven to eight years with them in Indiana,” Smith noted. “It was near the Chicago (Illinois) area in places like Valparaiso, Indiana, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. There were great people I worked with up there, but it was a much colder environment and I started looking for an opportunity to move down to the south.” While with Community Health Systems, a company based out of Nashville, he went through a CEO entry program. 

Smith saw there was an opportunity to come to Texas with UT-Health. “This is a great fit for me. This is a great organization to work for. What I see here is a consistency of culture, from front line staff to middle management, to division leadership and the focus on patient care and patient outcomes,” Smith explained. 

He now lives in the Mineola area. “I love it here. There are great restaurants here and I love the outdoors so there is the nature preserve in Mineola to enjoy. I grew up in smaller communities and I like it because smaller communities are more personal and you can grow close relationships with the people you serve,” Smith added. “My Dad was a radiologist, and he preferred working in smaller hospitals. At the ripe age of 16, I decided I wanted to be a hospital CEO.” 

Why become a CEO? “I thought about the medical route as a teenager, but I saw the impact you could have if you focused as a CEO using staff development and staff alignments. You can really partner with a community and by doing that you can have a broader impact on their lives,” Smith remarked. “I love being able to help physicians provide great care, supporting all our staff and have a united front to serve the community. I realized if I went the hospital administration route I can help enact positive change and benefit the community. I really wanted to be a part of that type of impact.”  

Smith has already begun to be part of the community. “I realize the importance of being a part of the community. I’m starting initiatives with the health advisory committee with Wood County partnering with the business community and local business leaders,” he said.

Smith ended up in Quitman after doing a nation-wide job search.

“I realized the focus and priority of patient care and patient safety and really excelling in everything especially in Quitman. I was impressed with the five-star rating of this facility,” Smith commented. “The star status is based on quality indicators including patient satisfaction indicators as well as efficiency indicators. The patient satisfaction here is in the 90th percentile and to me that was important. It showed that we had a team focused on the patient and seeing the outcomes.” 

UT Health Quitman received the top grade for patient experience according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Of almost 3,500 hospitals nationwide that received a star rating, UT Health Quitman was one of only 266 hospitals to receive the highest rating — five stars.

The young CEO has definite plans for the Quitman campus. “We are focusing on primary care presence and bringing in quality physicians. We want physicians who are personable with great quality skills,” Smith said. “When I interviewed here I saw they had all the pieces to be even greater than we already are. That was exciting and inspirational to me. You spend a majority of time at work so the people you work with are of huge importance to me. There was already a great team here in place and I just want to help contribute and help with continued growth. We have regular CEO council meetings to discuss strategy and where we are. It is a united front and we are all on the same page to make all our facilities the best.”

Smith was appreciative of Dr. Beverly Waddleton. “She was one of those I interviewed with. What is impressive about Dr. Waddleton is not just her obvious talent, but she has such pride in her community, and the years of dedication to this community, the years she spent in medical school then to return to serve people she grew up with. That speaks to the heart,” Smith observed. “It is one thing to provide care and it’s another thing to show you care, and that is Dr. Waddleton.”

Smith has plans for the future of UT Health Quitman. “We want to recruit additional high quality primary care providers for the surrounding communities and we want to see what additional services we can add here. We also want to be able to keep more patients here locally,” Smith explained. “That’s my vision in conversations with Tyler.  They recognize the importance keeping what you can in the local community. It’s better for the patient and the family to keep loved ones from having to travel further distances. We want to keep our patients here locally and expand our primary care outreach. The goal is to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital.”

What does Smith want the local community to know?  “I care about the community, I care about the patients, I care about the caregivers and I care about the people in Wood County. Caring must be evident in everything we do.”