A Message From the CEO

Welcome to our website. Here, you will find information about our history, the doctors we have working for us, our satellite clinics throughout southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas, and our hospital in Gravette, Arkansas.

From 1991 through December 31, 2021, OCH was a privately owned Subchapter S corporation. On January 1, 2022, as the sole shareholder, I donated my ownership to Ozarks New Hope, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (ONH), which has been in existence for over a decade. Since Subchapter S corporations do not pay taxes as a “pass-through entity” and since OCH is now owned by a tax-free charitable organization, OCH pays no income taxes but it does pay sales and property taxes. When people or organizations support the OCH mission and want to take a charitable deduction for that support, they do so by donating to ONH, our parent organization.

OCH is what the healthcare industry in this country considers a “safety-net” provider, because we focus on ensuring access to care by the underserved and those who have difficulty accessing care for a variety of reasons. We prioritize that mission over our profit/loss margin, so much so that we inevitably do not enjoy a profit margin. Our goal is to break even. We do not often achieve that goal. We have no regular means of financial support other than what we are paid for providing care. In over 25 years of leading OCH as its CEO, we have never sued a patient to collect a bill, despite the fact that I am a licensed attorney and could do so “wholesale” so to speak. We trust our patients to pay what they can. It is not their fault that the U.S.A. healthcare system is a complete disaster on the financial side. Ask me sometime how we could easily fix that part if we could get leadership to replace caring for money and power with caring for people   

Thank you for visiting,

Paul Taylor,
Chief Executive Officer,
Ozarks Community Hospital

Paul Taylor OCH CEO
Paul Taylor Biography

Paul Taylor is CEO of the OCH Health System which operates as a bi-state safety-net healthcare provider serving both urban & rural communities in the Ozarks.

Paul grew up in Joplin, Missouri. He graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College with a degree in English Literature.

He obtained a Masters in literature from the University of Missouri at Columbia and completed course work for the Ph.D. in literature before switching to law school, graduating from MU with a J.D.

During graduate school in literature and law, he taught composition and literature at MU for 7 years. He entered a private law practice in Webb City, Missouri in 1987 eventually becoming the CEO of Ozarks Community Hospital in 2000.

NOTABLE ACCOLADES:
  • 2017—Paul Taylor, OCH CEO, named of “12 People You Need to Know in 2017” by Springfield Business Journal.
  • 2016 – Paul Taylor, OCH CEO, Study Participant and Press Call Speaker, for “Beyond the Reduction in Uncompensated Care: Medicaid Expansion Is Having a Positive Impact on Safety Net Hospitals and Clinics” a study conducted by Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families.
  • 2015 – Paul Taylor, OCH CEO, named “50 Rural Hospital CEOs to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review. Recognition featuring CEOs & administrators of hospitals dedicated to advancing healthcare in small towns and rural
  • 2015 – Paul Taylor, OCH CEO, Co-Presenter on “Core Strategies to Succeed as an Independent Hospital—Can a Hospital Stay Independent?” at Becker’s Hospital Review 6th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Ill.
  • 2015 – Paul Taylor, OCH CEO, Presenter on “Strategies for Survival as a Rural Hospital” at the National Rural Health Association 38th Annual Rural Health Conference in Philadelphia, Pa.
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  • 2014 – Paul Taylor, OCH CEO, named “500+ People to Know in Healthcare” by Becker’s Hospital Review. Recognition cited Mr. Taylor’s dedication to improving the healthcare industry and his involvement in continuing to shape healthcare in the United States.
  • 2014 – Paul Taylor, OCH CEO, Co-Presenter on “The Best Ideas for Community Hospital Now,” at the Becker’s Hospital Review Annual CEO Strategy Roundtable in Chicago, Ill.
  • 2011 – Paul Taylor, OCH CEO honored with “Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Patriot Award.”
  • Mr. Taylor has been featured in numerous national publications including Kaiser Health News, Becker’s Hospital Review and Modern Healthcare.