New Baptist Health administrator young, yet experienced
New Baptist Health administrator young, yet experienced
Tim Bowen, 33, of Conway is a young hospital administrator by anyone’s standards, but that’s nothing. He was 27 when he got his first CEO job in the field.
Bowen started in September as vice president and administrator of Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway, and he was also CEO of Mena Regional Health System for 3 1/2 years.
“I had an extremely supportive board who gave a 27-year-old the keys to the hospital,” Bowen said, sitting in his office in the $150 million Conway facility, which opened in September 2016.
In Mena, he was assistant administrator, interim CEO, then was hired to run the 65-bed, standalone facility.
“I was by far the youngest [hospital administrator] in the state. I just jumped in with both feet,” he said.
He might not have become a hospital administrator had he been taller.
Bowen, who grew up in Glenwood and graduated from Centerpoint High School, said his first dream was to play professional basketball. He said his mother spent weekends driving him all over the country to play Amateur Athletic Union basketball. He’s 6-2, or as he put it, “not tall enough.”
His mother, a University of Central Arkansas graduate, still teaches business at Centerpoint High School.
“I grew up in the corner of a business classroom,” Bowen said. His father raised Charolais cattle.
Bowen followed in his mother’s footsteps and went to UCA, where he graduated in 2006 with a degree in nuclear medicine, a branch of medical imaging.
“I was always fascinated with science,” he said. “I thought pharmacy; I thought physical therapy; I thought medical school. Initially what attracted me to health care was the science-and-technology aspect.”
When he was involved in his nuclear-medicine clinical rotation at “big Baptist” in Little Rock, as he called it, his eyes were opened. Bowen said he saw firsthand all the departments of the hospital collaborating, and he wondered who organized it all. His direction in health care changed. I love all the changes that are happening in health care — the shift from volume to value.” Tim Bowen NEW BAPTIST HEALTH MEDICAL CENTERCONWAY ADMINISTRATOR
“Science and technology got me interested; it was the business side that really got me hooked,” Bowen said.
By the end of his first year of clinical rotation, Bowen said, he was sure he wanted to be a hospital administrator. He doesn’t regret his time going in another direction, though.
“My nuclear-medicine background has given me the edge,” he said. “Having a clinical background is an advantage — when you have a clinical and a business background, when you’ve worked along with the front-line staff, day to day, you have a better understanding than what a textbook teaches you.”
Bowen started working in nuclear medicine to pay the bills; he married his high school sweetheart, Natalie, during his year of clinicals. During the day, he was a nuclear-medicine tech at Mena Regional Health System, and three nights a week, he took classes at John Brown University in Siloam Springs to get his Master of Business Administration degree. He expected to go straight into health care administration once he got his degree.
His mentor, Bob Ellzey, was the administrator at Mena Regional Health System, and he recommended that Bowen do an internship before applying for jobs. Bowen got a one-year internship at a physician-owned clinic in Fort Smith and continued to work at the Mena hospital, shadowing Ellzey and helping out every spare minute.
Bowen became the assistant administrator, then interim CEO when Ellzey left for a position in Texas and was ultimately hired to fill Ellzey’s position, where Bowen worked until January 2015.
“I got experience doing everything,” Bowen said. “At a standalone hospital, you get a very broad range of experience because you do everything locally,” from billing to physician recruitment.
In 2011, while working in Mena, Bowen received the C.E. Melville Young Administrator of the Year Award from the Arkansas Hospital Association.
He spent 3 1/2 years at the helm of the health system, making his mentor proud.
Ellzey, president of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Azle, Texas, said he was impressed with Bowen from the start. Ellzey was Mena Regional Health System’s new administrator when Bowen was there.
“I had not been there very long at all, probably the first couple of weeks, and Tim came into my office — he was a young guy, a recent graduate with his bachelor’s degree in nuclear medicine from UCA,” Ellzey said. “He walked in and introduced himself. … We started a nice little visit. He said, ‘I love being a nuclear-medicine technologist, but ultimately, in the long run, I want to do what you do. What are some things I need to do to prepare to have your job?’
“He’s just a bright guy and very bold in coming in and talking with the new CEO, and I was just really impressed with him and took him in under my wing at that point.”
But Ellzey was quick to say that Bowen helped him as much as he helped Bowen.
“I’d toss things to Tim, and everything that we gave him, he took on and did really well with,” Ellzey said. “Tim was just always eager to take on more and more. It seemed like no matter what I gave him, he would say, ‘I can do more.’ He is one of the most extraordinary young leaders I have ever run across.”
When Ellzey resigned, the health-system board asked if he would recommend anyone, and Ellzey said he immediately named Bowen. He asked the board to give Bowen a chance, despite how young he was.
“He’s got high energy, great innovation, is committed to excellence, and he’s got a love for people, a love for community, a love for community service,” Ellzey said. “Now he’s come full circle to Conway.”
Bowen said his plan all along was to get back to central Arkansas. After Mena, he took a job as president of Integris Grove Hospital in northeast Oklahoma, a job he considered a stepping stone to get him where he wanted to be.
“Everyone has that dream job or that dream location. Conway was atop that list,” he said. “It goes back to that UCA experience. The years I spent at UCA were some of the most enjoyable of my life. I love the community. It’s a very progressive, growing town.”
Bowen was hired to replace Joanie White-Wagoner, who resigned in July. He is the third administrator of the 111-bed hospital.
“Nobody likes turnover,” Bowen said, adding that his ties to the area are what helped him land the job.
“Actions speak louder than words,” he said.
He said his leadership style will mesh well with the staff at Baptist.
“You have to be a servant leader. At the core, being a servant leader is who I am,” Bowen said. “No. 1, I’m a transparent leader. I like to think of myself as being innovative. To be successful in health care today, you have to be innovative. The health care model is rapidly changing.
“I love all the changes that are happening in health care — the shift from volume to value.”
Bowen said reimbursements are more and more tied to quality and outcomes.
“At the end of the day, that’s good for patients, good for the consumers,” he said.
As a new administrator, Bowen said, he’s focused on building relationships.
“It’s critical to be involved in the community,” he said.
The hospital came into a community with an established facility, Conway Regional Medical Center.
“Baptist has been caring for this region far before there was a facility here; there was a lot
of work that went into planning [to determine to place a facility here],” he said. “This is one of the fastest-growing areas of the state. Strategically, this was a great location to place a second facility.
“All across the country, we’re having different conversations than most hospitals. We’re watching our volume grow, month over month over month, where many hospitals are declining. How are we going to continue to support that growth?”
He said emergency room visits, for example, are “trending well over 2,000 per month.”
“There’s no plateau; it’s nice steady growth,” he said. “A lot is tied back to the patient experience. I’m blown away by patient testimonials.”
He said Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway has an 89 percent overall rating by hospital patients.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. His goal is beyond that, though.
“We want to be the top facility on a national scale,” he said.
Bowen also said an important effort for him is employee and provider engagement.
“I want everybody to know me. Part of my leadership style is being a very visual, transparent leader. I’m out and about in the facility every day. It’s critical to have relationships with staff and providers so that they feel comfortable to bringing issues to you,” Bowen said.
He said he and his wife are building a home not far from the medical center. They have a 7-year-old son, Brody, and a daughter, Bella Kate, is expected to be born in the next 30 days.
The young father said he has his dream job in his dream location.
“It’s a fantastic place to raise kids, and it’s a fun community. All the moves I’ve made are to get us here.”