Rural COO at Lifepoint's Paris Regional puts physician recruiting ahead of growth for 2027
Chris Boukas, RN, who became COO of Paris (Texas) Regional Health in December 2025, is framing the hospital's 2027 planning around physician recruitment and retention rather than expansion, according to Becker's Hospital Review. Paris Regional is a 154-bed hospital in the Lifepoint Health system serving northeast Texas and southeast Oklahoma, and Boukas told Becker's it is the most complex hospital within at least 70 miles.
Boukas said the market's population has been essentially flat, with Lamar County growing 0.6% between the 2010 and 2020 censuses to 50,088 residents, and that major growth and expansion now take a backseat to maintaining market share. Service line decisions are based on patient need, referral patterns and out-migration, he said, adding that recruiting and retaining physicians is the hospital's biggest operational concern heading into 2027.
Reimbursement and coverage uncertainty are also part of the planning. Becker's reported that Texas hospitals waited nearly a year for federal approval of three state-directed payment programs for fiscal 2027, including the Rural Access to Primary and Preventive Services program, worth a combined $9.8 billion; CMS approved the funding in September after the Texas Hospital Association projected the delay was costing hospitals $27 million a day. Under HR 1, state-directed payment rates in non-expansion states such as Texas are capped at 110% of Medicare and will ratchet down over time, and the law's community engagement requirement takes effect Jan. 1.
Boukas said Lifepoint has a team working on governmental and lobbying issues while his hospital focuses on what it can control, including expense and contract labor monitoring and preparing for potential revenue declines. He also said patient volumes are down industrywide, which he attributed to a combination of inflation and uncertainty, and that a priority is making sure patients understand upcoming coverage changes rather than assuming messages sent are messages received.