Interview with James I. Rodriguez, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer of TexHealth Central Texas

In an interview, James I. Rodriguez, FACHE, president and CEO of TexHealth Central Texas, talked about his career. Rodriguez graduated from college in the mid-1970s and started a local carpet-cleaning business. That experience imbued him with an entrepreneurial spirit that has sewed him well. In 1985, he was on the cutting edge helping to start a Medicaid HMO in Ohio. He always wanted to be in healthcare, so it was a good transition because it took him to the payer side, which was important for his career development. Over the years, he was either managing health centers, in leadership positions with payer organizations, or consulting. A multi-share plan is like a health benefits program. When he was working with an HMO that contracted with PHOs for the delivery of services, what he found was a lack of communication. He believes that the key to strong relationships between two entities such as these is communication.