Jim Gebhart was selected to lead Mercy’s operations in Oklahoma, including its clinics, nine acute care and two rehabilitation hospitals across the Sooner state. Gebhart currently serves as community president of Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City and will continue in this role.
As community president of operations for Oklahoma, Gebhart will focus on developing and implementing strategies to create the best experience for consumers and patients across the state who seek care at Mercy regardless of where they live.
“We want to focus on all of our Mercy Oklahoma hospitals and clinics working together to make a consistent experience for patients whether they live in Tishomingo, Watonga, Ada, Admore or Oklahoma City,” said Gebhart. “We learned a lot over the last three years working more closely than ever during the pandemic. During that time, we realized there are so many challenges to overcome in health care – and many continue today. It’s better for our patients and our co-workers when we work together as a region to share resources, expertise and innovations.”
A native of Burns Flat, Oklahoma, Gebhart has led Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City since 2009, overseeing the building and expansion of Mercy’s campus off I-35 in Edmond, the Coletta Building in Oklahoma City that houses oncology services and the addition of Mercy’s hospital in south Oklahoma City in 2020. He is currently overseeing the building of the Love Family Women’s Center and leads Mercy’s relationship with Oklahoma Heart Hospital, which provides cardiology services for patients on both Mercy hospital campuses in Oklahoma City.
Gebhart is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University, where he earned a bachelor’s in business administration. He also holds a master’s from the University of Dallas Graduate School of Management in health care administration.
For more information about Mercy Oklahoma, visit: https://careers.mercy.net/

Controlling a sometimes-deadly respiratory virus is a step closer to reality following U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the first preventive vaccine for older adults, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientists say.
The FDA this month approved a vaccine to prevent respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV, in people aged 60 and older. The vaccine is made by the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to follow the FDA’s approval, clearing the way for RSV vaccines for older adults to be available in the U.S. this fall. Drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna are also in the late stages of developing RSV vaccines, including one for pregnant women.
“This is a major step, and even more progress against this virus appears to be on the horizon,” said OMRF physician-scientist Hal Scofield, M.D. “RSV annually kills thousands of seniors in the U.S. and has recently played a big part in stressing global health care systems, so this first vaccine approval is welcome news.”
RSV typically produces a cold-like illness, but it can cause lower respiratory infections like bronchiolitis and pneumonia. At greatest risk of RSV complications are older adults with chronic lung or heart disease, those with weakened immune systems, and young children. Scofield said the virus is “woefully underdiagnosed” in adults.
The CDC estimates that RSV leads to more than 60,000 hospitalizations and over 6,000 deaths among adults 65 years and older annually. According to GSK, in a clinical trial of 25,000 adults, its vaccine was more than 94% effective in preventing severe RSV.
GSK’s shot involves technology dating to the 1980s. Called a recombinant subunit vaccine, it is used in numerous immunizations, including those for hepatitis B and whooping cough.
OMRF scientist Susan Kovats, Ph.D., studies RSV. She is working to understand why the virus impacts children more frequently, with more than 2 million outpatient visits for children under age 5 annually, but generally hits older adults harder. The work is setting the stage for better treatments and will aid in vaccine design.
“There seems to be a correlation between virus load and age,” she said. “The preliminary data in our models of older adults shows that the older you are, the harder it is to eliminate the virus.”
Scofield and Kovats said the approval of the first vaccine for RSV is good news, as long as those eligible take advantage.
“Time will tell how widespread uptake of the vaccine will be,” said Scofield, “But for older adults most at risk of a bad outcome from RSV, I hope that getting vaccinated when it becomes will be an easy decision.”

The Oklahoma Mobility Institute (OMI), a connected organization to the Oklahoma Transit Association (OkTA), has been awarded a $10,000 local coalition grant from the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
“OMI is a relatively new organization, and we are honored to receive this funding from APTA to further our mission of helping to facilitate an unparalleled transportation ecosystem with advanced mobility connectivity through shared resources and interorganizational partnerships,” said OkTA Executive Director Andrea Ball.
The grant funding will be used along with seed money from OKTA to support a Mobility Summit Listening Session for the State of Oklahoma to learn what services and support are required by transit providers. It will help OMI to develop tactics to achieve its goals over the next three to five years to advance transportation equity, inclusion, and mobility access for all Oklahomans.
“OMI’s goals include reducing no-show rates for appointments to medical and social services, ensuring weekly food access options for each community, providing grant support and application assistance to public transportation providers, and promoting mobility coordination and coordinated use of federal transportation funding,” Ball said.
The funding will also fund an OMI website that will provide online access to mobility resources in Oklahoma.
“The future website address is www.okmobility.org, and we expect it to be completed this summer,” Ball added.
APTA provides grants to help the fight for public transportation. Generally, grants awarded to coalitions range from $5,000 to $10,000.

Scammers are always finding new ways to steal your money and personal information by exploiting your fears. The most effective way to defeat scammers is to know how to identify scams and to ignore suspicious calls and emails.
One common tactic scammers use is posing as federal agents or other law enforcement. They may claim your Social Security number (SSN) is linked to a crime. They may even threaten to arrest you if you do not comply with their instructions. Here are three things you should do:
* Hang up right away or do not reply to the email.
* Never give personal information or payment of any kind.
* Report the scam at https://oig.ssa.gov/ to immediately notify the law enforcement team in our Office of the Inspector General.
You should continue to remain vigilant if you receive a phone call from someone who claims there’s a problem with your SSN or your benefits. If you owe money to us, we will mail you a letter explaining your rights, payment options, and information about appealing.
There are a few ways you can identify a scam call or email. Remember that we will never:
* Threaten you with benefit suspension, arrest, or other legal action unless you pay a fine or fee.
* Promise a benefit increase or other assistance in exchange for payment.
* Require payment by retail gift card, cash, wire transfer, internet currency, or prepaid debit card.
* Demand secrecy from you in handling a Social Security-related problem.
* Send official letters or reports containing personally identifiable information via email.
If you do not have ongoing business with our agency, it is unlikely we will contact you. Again, if you get a suspicious call claiming to be from us or law enforcement about Social Security, you should hang up and report it right away to our Office of the Inspector General at https://oig.ssa.gov/.