Decades Interview with Jessica O'Neal M'04, FACHE

Jessica Rangel O’Neal '04, FACHE
CEO
Medical City Children’s Hospital and Medical City Women’s Hospital
Dallas, TX

Although no one in her family ever worked in or was involved with health care, Jessica Rangel O’Neal '04 grew up fascinated by the field.

“I would watch any health care show on television,” she recalls. “The passion for health care, along with the ability to make a difference in the health and life of an individual—specifically in a hospital setting—drew me in at a very young age and continues to motivate me on a daily basis.”

That passion hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2013, the DFW Hospital Council honored Jessica as Young Healthcare Executive of the Year, and the Dallas Chamber of Commerce named her one of its 40 under 40 young leaders.

Fulfilling her longtime aspiration, Jessica spent the bulk of her early career with Methodist Dallas Medical Center (MDMC). Following an Administrative Fellowship there, she served first as Director of Cancer Services and Neurosurgery, then progressed rapidly to Assistant Vice President of Operations and then Vice President of Operations and COO. She served as COO at West Florida Hospital for two years before assuming her current position last December.

Now CEO of Medical City Children’s Hospital and Medical City Women’s Hospital Dallas, part of Medical City Healthcare, Jessica oversees two hospitals that are physically attached to the primary acute care hospital Medical City Dallas. Combined, the facilities include 111 labor and delivery beds, 84 Level IV NICU beds and 208 pediatric beds. Services available at the hospitals include perinatal navigation, high-risk maternal and neonatal transport, dedicated OB triage, a congenital heart program, TeleNICU and TeleMFM, a Maternal Fetal Institute, which includes open-womb fetal surgery and a pediatric oncology program.

As CEO, Jessica faces constant demands but singles out two of the constant challenges for her: the shortages that exist for many health care disciplines (RNs, physicians, surgeons, etc.) and managing the many complexities of how hospitals are paid. “Reimbursement continues to shift from fee-for-service vs. a model built on outcomes and quality of care" she explains.

Coping with those and other challenges, Jessica draws regularly on the “amazing” foundation she received at Trinity, noting that “the didactic portion of the HCAD Program curriculum coupled with the residency exposed me to a lot in a relatively short time.” She also credits the strong Trinity alumni network as being instrumental in her career development and maintains contact with numerous alumni to discuss health cares issues on a routine basis. What she enjoys most about her work are the people—employees, volunteers, physicians and patients—whom she works with and serves every day.

“Health care is a team sport,” she says “and it takes every individual in the facility to make it run 24/7/365."

When she isn’t working, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and their two children, ages two and five. She also makes time to work out every morning at 5 a.m.

To those considering a career in health care administration, Jessica cautions that "you have to want to serve and embrace the responsibility that individuals entrust us to care for them in their most vulnerable state.” She adds that she believes “working in health care administration is the most challenging yet most rewarding job one can have. There is never a dull moment.”