Executive VP and COO, Baptist Memorial Health Care

Nashville native Jason Little marveled that the first thing most people asked when he was promoted to CEO of Baptist Memorial Hospital – Collierville before turning 30 was unrelated to his position or his responsibilities. Instead they asked how old he was. He laughs now but back then he recognized that he was confident that he knew enough to contribute value but was humble enough to realize that he stood to learn a lot from fellow colleagues.

The hospital environment beckoned to Little at a young age when he viewed CT and MRI images in the radiology department with his aunt who worked there. She introduced him to the technology, but it was the ministry aspects of patient care that held the most appeal for him.

At 16, the exposure from a summer job in the front office of a radiology clinic further narrowed his focus. He realized that he found the mission of healthcare compelling but was not enamored of science, therefore, Little decided to turn his sights on the business side of healthcare.

During college years at UT – Knoxville, Little ‘designed’ his business major through the College Scholars Program. With a career in healthcare as his goal, he included courses in medical ethics and epidemiology along with business courses.

Landing a full scholarship and being a Whittle Scholar included a year of study abroad so he chose St. Bartholomew’s Medical College and Hospital in London, England, where he studied medical ethics and the history of healthcare. “It was a comparison basically of the British health system versus the American health system. It allowed me to further validate what I was planning,” he said, which was to make an impact on patient care from a business perspective, rather than from the clinical side.

After completion of his studies he traveled in 28 countries and observed the profound impact of healthcare, or the lack of it, on people in many parts of the world. It was a time of continuing discovery and validation and Little, now certain of his calling to healthcare, returned home and enrolled in the MBA program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Following completion, he entered its Master’s program in health administration.

Upon finishing the master’s degree, a fellowship with the Mayo Clinic took Little and Allison, his young bride, to Scottsdale, Arizona. “My wife and I set out on a 2,000 mile drive to Arizona the day after our honeymoon,” he recalled. “It was a great beginning.” Beyond the fellowship year, he continued on as operations administrator at the Mayo’s Scottsdale clinic.

The value of that experience? “Mayo instilled the team aspect of care. When you go there as a patient, you see a cast of providers who can address all of your needs in a multidisciplinary fashion… the needs of the patient come first.” The mission rang true for Little and much of what he learned at the Mayo Clinic was transferable regarding concepts for effective healthcare delivery.

Little and his wife, a Knoxville native, were ready to return to Tennessee after three and a half years at Mayo. Following much prayer and soul-searching, he seized the chance to become part of the BMH management team as assistant administrator at Baptist Memorial Hospital – DeSoto.

“Determining what was important in life and why I got into healthcare in the first place, I felt like my values and personal mission matched very well with Baptist. I am right where I hoped I would be.”

“We are transforming ourselves from what has been a hospital-centric organization over the last 100 years to a hospital and physician organization, said Little. The hospital, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012, has evolved from one of the largest private hospitals in the world to a 14 site system with 4500 physicians in a three state area. “What has made us successful in the past, is not necessarily what is going to make us successful in the future, so we are growing and developing a hospital organization with physician partners that lends itself to a multidisciplinary approach to care.”

Three years ago Baptist began looking at models of top hospital/physician integrated delivery systems in the U.S. including the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Scottsdale, St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, and Novant Health in North Carolina. “Our model provides a lot of autonomy and governance to physicians so that they maintain their leadership and provide care for the patient with a team approach,” Little noted. “We have spent time developing the infrastructure so that when we recruit physician partners, we are not selling (a concept) we can’t deliver.”

The hospital/physician partner group is Baptist Memorial Medical Group (BMMG), currently comprised of 215 physicians and growing. “Our goal is to have the right number of physicians in the right specialties with the right common goals to achieve the physician and hospital organization (mission) together. BMMG does not exist to support the hospital.” It is a partnership.

With a fresh approach to healthcare delivery, Baptist Memorial Health Care is embracing the future with three major initiatives that excite Little, including a $65 million comprehensive cancer center with waterviews, planned at Germantown Parkway and Wolf River Boulevard. “The vision of the cancer center is to bring everything together under one roof and to capitalize on all the advantages of a team approach in a concurrent way.” With all services concentrated in one location, the cancer center will simplify and streamline access for the patient to the multidisciplinary team, treatment modalities and services.

“This is a place where patients will have all the things they need,” Little pointed out, including a library, nutrition services, a wig/hat boutique, treatment facilities; the latest technology such as linear accelerators, and the Cyberknife®; and conferencing facilities used by physicians, with teleconferencing capabilities both in-house and remote. “The patients’ chemo/infusion treatment rooms are designed comfortably with the patient in mind.”

Hospital officials expect a vote on the planned cancer treatment and clinic facilities by the state in August. If all goes according to plan, the completion date will occur in 2013.

A second initiative is to build a $250 million hospital in Oxford, Miss. Baptist has received approval by the city and county to buy the hospital it has been leasing. A definitive agreement is expected soon. “This demonstrates how important the hospital in Oxford is to us,” said Little. “The core philosophy of Baptist is that it has not existed as a spoke and hub where you have smaller facilities referring people in. People want to get their care close to home and have their MRIs and robotic surgery there.” He emphasized, “It’s important for Baptist to be able to provide that.”

Building a $350 million hospital in Jonesboro, NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital, is a third initiative that will embody the integrated delivery system model where physicians and hospitals are physically and functionally located together. “It’s designed in a truly integrated fashion with an integrated diagnostic center and a free-standing cancer center. The cardiology offices are steps away from the catheter lab, and the OB/GYN department is steps away from labor and delivery. We have 115 physicians (partners) representing all the specialties. All this is a testament of what we want to accomplish everywhere.” Completion date is expected in 2013.

Little strives professionally “to be a contributing part of the Baptist team and to be an innovator. We have a unique platform to be an innovator and I am excited to be a part of that.”

The personal accomplishment of becoming a father to three beautiful children makes Little beam and he is surrounded by family photos in his office. Sons Hudson and Maddox turn eight and six in August, respectively. Sarah Katherine is four and a red poodle-mix named Martha completes the family. Snow skiing, the favorite family winter sport, requires an annual trek to Steamboat Springs. Summer nights often find all the Littles rooting for the Redbirds.

Little confesses to “bleeding orange” with the UT Vols and enjoys all sports, especially golf. Woodworking is a passion that stemmed from childhood while playing in his father’s cabinet shop and, remarkably, he made his children’s nursery furniture.

Active in church life, he serves as a deacon and teaches a Sunday school class for “couples 30 to 50 something” with children. “We ‘do’ life together.”

Little attributes much of his success to his parents: “I learned my work ethic watching my parents – they are terrific, wonderful parents – I have been blessed.”

A passion for providing great service and delivering good care to patients is a high calling that Little takes to heart. “We are all touched by some kind of healthcare issue in our families. What we go through in our personal journey becomes a litmus test for how we will react with other people’s families. It’s an important responsibility and a worthy ministry.”

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