Jim Dockins

I am originally from central Missouri and began my health care career as a respiratory therapist. My undergraduate degree was in Health Sciences (Respiratory Therapy) at the University of Missouri-Columbia (BHS ’84).
My career and education path has been a wonderful journey with lots of variation. I received my MBA from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri in the mid-nineties, and a doctorate in Higher & Adult Education from the University of Memphis in 2004. My dissertation topic was Person-Environment Congruence, Job Stability, and Job Satisfaction: An Examination of Holland’s Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments in the Nursing Profession.
Work-wise, I moved from respiratory therapy to managing physician-hospital joint ventures, clinical informatics, and cost accounting early in my career. Then I spent time with Humana, managing their HMO/PPO operations for central and northeastern Missouri. After that, I moved on to West Tennessee Healthcare and spent nine years working in a variety of roles, culminating in a CEO position for their 612-bed flagship hospital. From Tennessee, I then moved to Montgomery, Alabama and served the Baptist Health organization for two years as the Chief Operating Officer at Baptist Medical Center South until July, 2008.
I completed an assignment (August 2009) serving as Regional Director for Fortis Healthcare Limited, in New Delhi, India. As Regional Director for Fortis I had responsibility for 5 hospitals with approximately 1000 total beds in the national capital region of India and one on the island-nation of Mauritius. Fortis is a private healthcare company and it works alongside the government health system. They primarily serve middle and upper income groups in India and receive patients from all over the world. The healthcare organization now has over 50 hospitals and is continuing to eventually acquire and construct hospitals across the Asian region with plans to also build, own, and operate hospitals on the North and South American continents.
I completed in December 2011 an assignment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as the Executive Director of Administrative Services at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. In Jeddah we were a 303 bed specialty hospital with emphasis on pediatrics, cardiology, neurosciences, and oncology. The hospital expansion project currently underway will culminate in approximately 900 operational hospital beds. The building program includes three new hospitals with a value of approximately $2.20 billion in construction and equipment.
I am also a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and do quite a bit of mentoring with Asian and Middle Eastern health care managers seeking their fellowship with the ACHE.