Expanding Access and Advancing Rural Health at Arkansas Children's with Jamie Wiggins

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Expanding Access and Advancing Rural Health at Arkansas Children's with Jamie Wiggins

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Host: Chris Soster
Guest: Jamie Wiggins, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Arkansas Children’s
Date: February 27, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode spotlights Jamie Wiggins, COO of Arkansas Children’s, as he shares strategic initiatives, lessons learned, and forward-looking priorities for Arkansas’s only pediatric health system. The conversation centers on expanding healthcare access, especially in rural communities, operational excellence, addressing the pediatric talent pipeline, and investments in research and infrastructure, notably the National Center for Opioid Research and Clinical Effectiveness.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Arkansas Children's Overview

• Jamie Wiggins introduces himself as a pediatric nurse with 30 years of experience, now four and a half years at Arkansas Children’s.
• Institutional Scope:
  • Only pediatric healthcare system in Arkansas.
  • Two hospitals, five clinics, research institute, and a foundation.
  • Serves nearly 1 million children (ages 0-21) across the state.
  • [00:22] "We're the only pediatric healthcare system in the state completely dedicated to kids." — Jamie Wiggins

---

2. Major 2025 Initiative: Seamless Access Expansion

• System Expansion: Multi-year project across sites of care.
• Operational Focus:
  • Creating a streamlined entry ("seamless front door") for patients and families.
  • Optimizing appointment scheduling templates with providers.
  • Enhancing and integrating technology-driven access points.
  • Outcome: 200,000 unique patients seen in 2025, an internal record.
  • [01:09] “What that really allowed us to do is last year we saw nearly 200,000 unique patients, which was our most patients seen in a given year in our history.” — Jamie Wiggins

---

3. Lessons Learned from Change Initiatives

• Culture Change:
  • Aspirational goals are critical, but success is achieved through the engagement and empowerment of frontline staff.
  • Recognizes that operational barriers often arise from complexity and well-intended policies.
  • Stresses importance of listening at all organizational levels to simplify workflows and ease the burden on caregivers.
  • [02:07] “It happens on those interactions with our leaders and our frontline team members and our physicians and really making sure that we understand what are the barriers that have been created not on purpose…” — Jamie Wiggins

---

4. 2026 Priorities: Access, Workforce, and Culture of Excellence

• Hopes to Build on Access Gains: Expansion work from 2025 seen as a “tailwind” for future growth.
• Talent Pipeline:
  • Nationwide decline in pediatric subspecialties.
  • Aims to foster an appealing academic and clinical environment for providers and technical staff.
• Culture Commitment:
  • Striving for “friendliest hospital” status.
  • Focus on exceptional care and customer service across all touchpoints—acute, tertiary, and telemedicine.
  • Equipping staff with tools and autonomy to meet and exceed patient expectations.
  • [03:13] “We're really calling ourselves to excellence, to really focus on a friendliest hospital mindset… we want to make sure that we are exceeding expectations in all ways we give care.” — Jamie Wiggins

---

5. Rural Health: Arkansas's Unique Challenge

• Rural Demographics:
  • Over 50% of Arkansas children reside in rural communities vs. national average of 12%.
• Systemic Challenge:
  • Delivering care requires investment in community infrastructure and navigation of payer model misalignments.
  • Enduring, multi-year focus with ongoing system investment.
  • Sees operational efficiency savings as a means to fuel rural health efforts.
  • [05:01] “We have a huge calling to figure out how we can get in those communities which will require infrastructure and resources that doesn't always align with current payer methodologies.” — Jamie Wiggins

---

6. Strategic Vision: Next 5 Years

• Five-Year Plan Launched (July 2025):
  • Priority: Significant improvement in rural healthcare delivery.
  • Initial Focus: Chronic illness management via centralized hubs (e.g., diabetes management with remote patient monitoring).
  • Emphasis on statewide population health management for children with chronic conditions.
  • Active exploration of new projects and models to expand rural care access.
  • [06:35] “Our chief strategy officer and our strategy leadership team… will probably focus on chronic illness. How do we create hubs that will allow us to focus on the chronically ill in our state to help with healthcare management?” — Jamie Wiggins

---

7. Infrastructure Investment: National Center for Opioid Research and Clinical Effectiveness

• Expansion Project Scope:
  • $370 million system-wide investment.
  • 330,000 new and 170,000 renovated square feet.
• Opioid Center Funding:
  • $50 million from state opioid settlement, $5 million from Juul settlement.
• Mission:
  • Establish a national research and clinical base for opioid and substance use disorder impacting children, mothers, and babies.
  • Integrates research, clinical enterprise, and institute work into a single facility.
  • Construction underway; expected opening in early 2027.
  • [07:55] “It really is setting a national infrastructure for us to actually study and understand not only opioid impact on child health, but also mothers and babies.” — Jamie Wiggins

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [01:09] “What that really allowed us to do is last year we saw nearly 200,000 unique patients, which was our most patients seen in a given year in our history.” — Jamie Wiggins
• [02:07] “It happens on those interactions with our leaders and our frontline team members and our physicians and really making sure that we understand what are the barriers that have been created not on purpose…” — Jamie Wiggins
• [03:13] “We're really calling ourselves to excellence, to really focus on a friendliest hospital mindset….” — Jamie Wiggins
• [05:01] “Over 50% of the children that live in Arkansas live in rural communities. Nationally that percentage is around 12%. And so we have a huge calling to figure out how we can get in those communities which will require infrastructure and resources that doesn't always align with current payer methodologies.” — Jamie Wiggins
• [07:55] “It really is setting a national infrastructure for us to actually study and understand not only opioid impact on child health, but also mothers and babies.” — Jamie Wiggins

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:22] — Arkansas Children's overview and scope
• [01:09] — Key outcomes of 2025 access initiative
• [02:07] — Reflections on change management and culture
• [03:13] — 2026 priorities and organizational mindset
• [05:01] — The rural health challenge in Arkansas
• [06:35] — Five-year strategic plan and rural health focus
• [07:55] — Details on the National Center for Opioid Research and major system investments

---

Conclusion

Jamie Wiggins highlighted the breadth of Arkansas Children’s mission, the critical progress made towards seamless healthcare access, and the unique rural healthcare context of Arkansas. The episode details ongoing and future investments in workforce development, excellence in service delivery, and research infrastructure, painting a picture of a pediatric system deeply dedicated to innovation and equity on behalf of children statewide.

---

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Chris Soster, your host and I'm thrilled to be joined today by Jamie Wiggins. He's executive vice president and chief operations officer of Arkansas Children's. Jamie, thank you for joining us today.

[B]

Thank you, Chris. Happy to be here.

[A]

Yeah, such a pleasure. So, Jamie, for those in our audience who maybe are not too familiar with yourself and your organization, could you please let us know a little bit about both?

[B]

Absolutely. I am a pediatric nurse by background, have been in pediatric healthcare for 30 years, held some various levels of executive leadership before joining Arkansas Children's four and a half years ago. We're the only pediatric healthcare system in the state completely dedicated to kids. We have two hospitals, five clinics, a research institute and a foundation and serve nearly 1 million kids 21 years and younger across our state.

[A]

Fantastic. Thanks for letting us know what Arkansas Children is about and the breadth and scope that you guys cover, which is quite a bit down in Arkansas. First question I have for you, Jamie, is this. So let's look a little bit back at 2025. So what would you say is the most important initiative that you and the organization led last year and can you tell us the results and how it evolved?

[B]

Sure. I think we've been in the middle of a multi year campus expansion project or really system expansion project across our different sites of care. But from an operational standpoint, what we really focused on last year was creating a very seamless front door for patients and families. We know that we have the tertiary quaternary full complement of services that kids in our region need, but it wasn't always as easy to get scheduled appointment. And so we really focused on template optimization with our provider colleagues. We focused on our technology access points to make sure that it was streamlined so that we could schedule appointments. And what that really allowed us to do is last year we saw nearly 200,000 unique patients, which was our most patients seen in a given year in our history. So some really great work that's happened there.

[A]

Jamie, in looking at that project, what would you say you learned about either yourself something about yourself, or learned about just what it takes to drive such an initiative?

[B]

Yeah, you know, it always takes a big aspirational goal to figure out how you want to achieve culture change. But the reality is, I think I've learned it what I've always known and reinforced. It happens at the front line. It happens on those interactions with our leaders and our frontline team members and our physicians and really making sure that we understand what are the barriers that have been created not on purpose, well, meaning intended people, but yet, as our systems continue to get complex, as we continue to respond and make sure that we meet all the regulatory requirements for the care that we provide, we sometimes make our system very hard to navigate. And so really making sure that we're engaging all levels of the organization and really listening for the front line to understand what we can do to make their job easier so that we can

[A]

align our goals makes total sense. Thanks, Jamie. So as we take that knowledge and we look ahead into 2026, we're a little bit into the year, but still a lot to go. So what would you say are the biggest priorities that Arkansas Children's has? Any headwinds that you foresee and even tailwinds that you're hoping can boost you guys?

[B]

Well, I'm certainly hoping the access work that we did last year will continue to be a tailwind to help us move us forward as we look to make sure that we can take care of more kids this year. I think what we have in common with other organizations across the country is the talent pipeline, specifically around our physicians and our providers. We know that across the country, less people are going into pediatric subspecialties, and so always making sure that we are creating the kind of academic environment and clinical environment that physicians would want to choose, as well as growing our pipeline for our technical roles as well. From a culture piece, as we look forward, we're really calling ourselves to excellence, to really focus on a friendliest hospital mindset. So really, how do we make sure that we are creating exceptional customer service and patient care along the entire trajectory? Regardless if you interact with us in our acute care tertiary service or you interact with us on a telemedicine visit, we want to make sure that we are exceeding expectations in all ways we give care, which has really been a motivating force for us to really look at what we're doing and figure out how we can equip our team members with the ability and the skill set and the flexibility to make sure they deliver on those expectations. And so we're excited about what the future holds.

[A]

It's fantastic. Let's look at a little bit more about 2026. So you have plenty that you want to get done. No doubt. So when you think about that, what do you think is the hardest thing you'll have to do in the coming year? It doesn't mean you're not looking forward to doing it, but you understand it's going to take a specific and intense level of focus to accomplish that goal.

[B]

Yeah, the one thing I would say that kind of highlight is our focus on rural health care. It's really hard to do that work. Over 50% of the children that live in Arkansas live in r rural communities. Nationally that percentage is around 12%. And so we have a huge calling to figure out how we can get in those communities which will require infrastructure and resources that doesn't always align with current payer methodologies. So we really are leaning into our commitment to improve child health across the state. And that obviously isn't going to happen in, you know, one year. That's going to be a multi year focus that we continue to invest in. But we're really excited about that work. And for me, what I really am always focused on is how do we deliver the best care and the best environment and make sure that we have optimized the efficiency in the running of our organization. If any dollar that I can help save from the delivery of care provides a dollar that we can invest in the future for rural health care, that's

[A]

a perfect equation I would say let's look at looking forward. You mentioned infrastructure, but I do want to ask you not only about that, but other opportunities you see for growth. I mean, certainly as you mentioned caring for kids in Arkansas, where 50% of them live in rural areas, that that's going to take investment. Right. So where do you see Arkansas children's going with that next, Whether it's the next year, 18 months, five years, whatever timeline you think is appropriate in this time.

[B]

Sure. Well, we just kicked off this past July, our new five year strategic plan. And so we've kind of given ourselves a five year Runway to figure out how we will continue to make a deep dent in improving rural health care. Our chief strategy officer and our strategy leadership team has really will probably focus on chronic illness. How do we create hubs that will allow us to focus on the chronically ill in our state to help with healthcare management? So for one example would be diabetes. Is there a way that we can make sure we stay in constant contact in monitoring of our diabetic patients to really achieve some population health management at a statewide level. So I think that's one of the areas that you'll see us kind of focus over the next couple of years? I think we have a lot of interest, as a lot of healthcare systems do across the country, to understand what the investment in rural healthcare across the country will be. I think we've got a couple of projects for consideration, so hopefully we'll be able to Start accelerating some of that work.

[A]

Terrific. Jamie, thanks for highlighting all those efforts that you guys are working on. I did want to give a chance to highlight yet another, and that is our national center for Opioid Research and Clinical Effectiveness. Understand that the construction began in August and you plan to open it in 2027. What would you say is the progress on that project right now? What are you most proud of?

[B]

Yeah, so the national center for Opioid Research and Clinical Effectiveness is actually one component of our overall expansion project across our system where we're adding 330,000 square feet. We're going to renovate another 170,000 square feet and really invest over $370 million across our system. The national center for Opioid Research actually got its funding with partnership with the Attorney General for the state of Arkansas. $50 million of opioid settlement money was put towards this effort, followed by another $5 million of Juul settlement money. So we did do a topping out ceremony just a few weeks ago. We'll be looking to open that up in the beginning of 2027. And it really is setting a national infrastructure for us to actually study and understand not only opioid impact on child health, but also mothers and babies. And so we're really excited to have one building that will actually bring in our research, our clinical enterprise, and a research institute center under one building, so we can really start to understand, address, and hopefully prevent substance use disorder and opioids.

[A]

Yeah, it's very impressive and certainly important that there's a facility to research all the disparate and different elements that go into treating and understanding opioid disorders. Jamie, you've been such a pleasure to have on as a guest. We're going to see you, I hope, very soon here at Becker's Conferences or just in the podcast space, wherever that may be. Thank you again for joining us.

[B]

I'm looking forward to it. I appreciate the opportunity to connect with you. Anytime I talk about Arkansas Children's, I'm happy to do so.