Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: Interview with Jason Glover, CEO of Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center Adult Services

Date: March 1, 2026
Host: Laura Deardo
Guest: Jason Glover, CEO, Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center Adult Services

Overview of Episode

This episode features Jason Glover, CEO of Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center Adult Services. Glover discusses the major initiatives and ongoing evolution at Memorial Hermann, with a focus on operational excellence, technology adoption, workforce engagement, and sustaining the mission amid changing financial headwinds. The conversation covers recent and upcoming projects, priorities in quality and access, the challenges of research funding, care delivery innovation, and strategies for sustainable growth as an academic health system.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. About Jason Glover and Memorial Hermann (01:15)

• Jason's background: started in construction management, transitioned to healthcare by building a hospital, and has been with Memorial Hermann for 13 years.
• Memorial Hermann highlights:
  • Largest non-profit health system in Texas, market leader in Houston.
  • 260 sites of care, 17 hospitals.
  • Jason oversees the 1,200-bed flagship academic medical center (Texas Medical Center).
  • Primary teaching hospital for UT Health Houston McGovern Medical School.
  • Celebrating 100-year anniversary as the first hospital in the Texas Medical Center (largest healthcare district globally).
  • Home to the Red Duke Trauma Institute (prominent Level 1 trauma program), Life Flight (largest, oldest air ambulance fleet, entirely community/philanthropy funded), Mission Neuroscience Institute, Larry D. Johnson Heart & Vascular Institute, and Rockets Orthopedic Hospital.
  • Fourth round of Magnet designation; top 10 Vizient hospital for sustained quality and operational performance.

“We're actually celebrating our 100 year anniversary. So we were the first hospital to open in what has now become the Texas Medical center, which is known as the largest healthcare district in the world.” — Jason Glover (02:12)

2. Major System Initiative: EHR Transition & Change Management (04:05)

• Completed an enterprise-wide EHR conversion from Cerner to Epic in late 2024.
• Managed the monumental change without sacrificing clinical quality or dropping Vizient rankings, a common risk with such transitions.
• Maintained high capacity and set records in patient volumes, discharges, surgeries, and deliveries in 2025.

“You'll see a lot of organizations, they'll drop 20 to 30 spots in their Vizient ranking. We stayed very focused... remained in the top 10.” — Jason Glover (04:36)

• Key success factors:
  • Kept focus on the mission and discipline in quality processes amid major tech transition.
  • Engaged team structure and mechanisms for continuous performance assessment.
  • Proactively dealt with potential distractions.

3. Managing Human Side of Change (06:42)

• Emphasis on people as the core of healthcare, regardless of technological advancement.
• Strategies for successful change integration:
  • Active engagement and listening to staff feedback.
  • Bidirectional communication: surface & solve friction points, adjust workflows accordingly.
  • Involving frontline clinicians in adapting processes to new technology.
  • Education and support for maximizing benefit from new EHR capabilities.
  • Visibility and vibrancy of leadership during change.

“At the core of healthcare, we're a people business. We have amazing people who have these massive hearts and this great intellect ... so as we go through these changes, we look to listen.” — Jason Glover (06:48)

4. 2026 Priorities and Headwinds (08:27)

• Access: Ensuring bed availability as high-acuity tertiary flagship, maintaining throughput, and managing high occupancy.
• Outcomes: Continued focus on high reliability, aiming for “zero harm” and practicing evidence-based care. Emphasis on the academic center's dual mission: follow and create evidence-based practices.
• World-Class Experiences:
  • For staff: physical and psychological safety, career growth opportunities, pathways, mentoring, tools/training, recognition.
  • For patients: clear, jargon-free communication, seamless care coordination between and across specialties, “crisp, clean, and welcoming” environment.
• Headwinds:
  • Public funding pressures, with rising costs and stagnant/declining reimbursement, especially under Medicaid (52–58 cents on the dollar).
  • Houston-specific challenge: large population uninsured/underinsured (“1 in 4 Houstonians is either uninsured or underinsured”).
  • Pressure on private sector to cover safety net costs.
  • Impact of reductions in research dollars and academic funding sustainability; concern for partnerships and innovation.

“We spend a lot of time focusing on making sure [team members] come to a place that's physically and psychologically safe... and that we help them with their career growth.” — Jason Glover (10:37)

5. Biggest Challenge Ahead (14:34)

• Exciting developments: completing Seraphim Tower for neurosciences/oncology/transplant, introducing virtual nursing and ambient listening technologies, deepening UT Health Houston partnership.
• Major challenge: Keeping the workforce engaged and supported amid non-stop change—balancing investment in people with demands of continuous innovation and process overhaul (drawing on EHR lessons).
• Balancing the academic health system’s tripartite mission (clinical care, research, education) with financial sustainability given shrinking resources.

“The hardest part will just be keeping the team engaged and supported while we're continuing to ask them to change constantly, staying close to our people, making sure that they feel invested in...” — Jason Glover (14:52)

6. Growth & Diversification as an Academic Health System (16:38)

• Move from individual/physician-centric to team-based models, extending beyond system walls.
• Forming new payer-provider-employer collaborations; preparing for value-based payment models.
• Operational discipline: using technology to augment—not replace—staff, freeing up bandwidth for innovation and the academic mission.
• Growing ambulatory and telehealth services to extend the reach of specialized expertise into broader and rural communities.
• Investing in workforce engagement and organic growth: “I generate” platform for staff-submitted ideas; fostering creativity and ownership at all levels.

“We have a platform I generate that any one of our employees... can submit ideas and we vet those and we look to implement those. But getting close to the workforce and listening to their ideas... is an opportunity to create organic growth and to sustain our mission.” — Jason Glover (18:10)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the importance of people in change management

  “At the core of healthcare, we're a people business.” (06:48)

• On sustaining excellence through transformation

  “We stayed very focused on our processes, we stayed very focused on delivering high reliability care and remained in the top 10.” (04:36)

• On balancing experience for staff and patients

  “We spend a lot of time focusing on making sure that they come to a place that's physically and psychologically safe, that they have the tools and training to do their job, that they're rewarded and recognized...” (10:37)

• On funding and mission pressures

  “Private sector is having to take on more and more of the safety net costs. And as a level one trauma center, that puts just incredible pressure for us to find other sources of revenue.” (11:43)

• On the hardest part of leadership in changing times

  “...keeping the team engaged and supported while we're continuing to ask them to change constantly...” (14:52)

Important Timestamps

• 01:15 — Jason Glover’s background & Memorial Hermann overview
• 04:05 — EHR (Cerner to Epic) transition & change management
• 06:42 — Managing the human side: communication and workflow adaptation
• 08:27 — 2026 Top priorities: access, outcomes, staff/patient experience; key headwinds
• 14:34 — Hardest challenge in coming year: engagement amid constant change, tripartite mission under pressure
• 16:38 — Growth strategies: team-based care, partnerships, ambulatory/telehealth expansion, leveraging workforce ideas

Conclusion

Jason Glover’s episode highlights the complex balancing act required to lead a major academic medical center today: delivering top-tier care and quality metrics during historic tech and process changes, supporting and engaging a highly skilled workforce, advancing clinical and research missions under tightening financial constraints, and innovating for growth. The conversation offers practical leadership lessons and strategic outlooks valuable for healthcare executives and professionals committed to resilient, value-driven organizations.