HJAR Sep/Oct 2025

DIALOGUE Brian Thomas earned dual master’s degrees in health administration and business administration from the University of Birmingham in Alabama. His career at Jefferson Regional began in 1998, when he served as administrative director of operations and physician practices. He later advanced to leadership roles, including chief executive officer at Howard Memorial Hospital in Nashville, Arkansas, and chief operating officer positions with Tenet Healthcare in Indio, California, and Community Health Systems in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2010, he returned to Jefferson Regional as senior vice president and chief operating officer. In March 2016, he was appointed interim president and CEO at the request of the Jefferson Regional Board of Directors. After a nationwide search, he was officially named president and CEO in February 2017. 8 SEP / OCT 2025 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS BRIAN THOMAS President & CEO Jefferson Regional Medical Center ONE on ONE Dianne Hartley, Editor You’ve been leading Jefferson Regional since 2016. Tell us a little about your journey to this role and what drew you to healthcare leadership. Brian Thomas I’ve been in healthcare for 28 years, and much of my career has been here in south Arkansas. I joined Jefferson Regional in 1998 with an initial focus on physician practice management. In the early 2000s, I took a brief detour out-of- state in other executive roles with for-profit systems, but I returned to Jefferson Regional in 2010 committed to concluding my career in healthcare management. I started on my path to healthcare with my undergraduate degree in health information management (medical records, as we referred to it back then). I soon learned that hospital operations were of significant interest, and since then, that has been my focus. I was blessed with many great mentors along the way, all of whom have given me the opportunity to be in a position to make a difference. Editor Jefferson Regional occupies a unique position in Arkansas healthcare. While not classified as a rural hospital by CMS, your organization serves a largely rural, medically underserved 11-county region. That dual identity — as an urban hospital with a rural mission — comes with its own challenges and responsibilities, I am sure. Tell us about them. Thomas Southeast Arkansas is undoubtedly a very unique market. We serve a portion of our population that truly need the ser- vices that we provide. Outside of the cen- tral Arkansas metro area, Jefferson Regional serves as one of the remaining health sys- tems that still offers a wide range of medical specialties and services for this region of the state. As many areas across Arkansas have lost many specialists, Jefferson Regional continues to offer a strong team of vital specialists, including oncology, cardiology,