George B. Hernández, Jr., JD, George B. Hernández, Jr., JD, is the President/Chief Executive Officer of the Bexar County Hospital District, d/b/a University Health System. The Health System operates 19 primary, specialty and preventive healthcare centers throughout Bexar County, as well as University Hospital, a 716-bed hospital which serves as South Texas’ only civilian Level I trauma center and first and only Level II pediatric trauma and burn center. University Health System also operates a nonprofit HMO, Community First Health Plans, Inc.; a nonprofit multi-specialty physician practice, Community Medicine Associates; and is a partner with San Antonio AirLIFE, an emergency air ambulance program covering South Texas.

The Health System is South Texas’ first and only Magnet healthcare organization, a status designated by the American Nurses Association and earned only by 6 percent of U.S. hospitals. As one of the Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems in the nation, University Health System ranks in the top 1 percent of U.S. health organizations for achieving a high level of information technology integration. University Hospital is consistently named the best hospital in metropolitan San Antonio by U.S. News & World Report.

Hernández serves as a member of the “Code Red” Task Force on Access to Health Care in Texas. He serves on the board of America’s Essential Hospitals, the board of the University Health System Consortium, and is past chair of both the Texas Hospital Association (2013) and Teaching Hospitals of Texas (2005-08).

He was honored in 2009 by the Texas Council of Community MHMR Centers as the recipient of the Frank M. Adams Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service and named one of Modern Healthcare magazine’s Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare for 2010. Hernández and the Health System’s chief information officer were joint recipients of the 2008 Transformational Leadership Award from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and the American Hospital Association.

Hernández is a native of San Antonio. He earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s University and law degree from George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C.

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