When George Hernández walks out of his hospital office for the last time next week, he will have spent much of his last year before retirement celebrating new beginnings.
About a week after opening the doors on a new $574 million Women’s and Children’s Hospital in December, the president and CEO of Bexar County’s expansive public hospital system announced he would retire in June.
In the months that followed the shiny new hospital opening, Hernández appeared at groundbreakings for a total of four new clinics and hospitals now under construction across San Antonio and the grand openings for several clinics.
The most recent dirt-turning event was held at the site of University Health Wheatley, a multi-specialty clinic being built on the East Side that will also be a second site for the Institute for Public Health when it opens in late 2025.
Three others are in the works: University Health Vida on the South Side is expected to open in 2025 and University Health Palo Alto Hospital on the South Side in 2027; University Health Retama Hospital in the Northeast will open in early 2027.
University Health already consists of 35 locations and serves as the primary teaching facility for UT Health San Antonio. The main hospital is a Level I trauma center for South Texas and is the region’s only pediatric Level I trauma center and only Joint Commission-accredited comprehensive stroke center.
Shepherding its latest projects forward will be Edward Banos who will take over as president and CEO after Hernández departs.
Banos is currently executive vice president and chief operating officer at University Health, having joined the system in 2015. Banos said being named CEO is “a dream come true.”
Hernández said he is leaving University Health in good hands, but with a lot of “homework” to do as those projects are completed.
Two addditional facilities are also on the drawing board, Hernández said, including a medical office building at Hamilton Wolfe Road and Floyd Curl Drive. The second project hasn’t been announced.
From city to Med Center
Hernández was born in West Texas where both his parents are from and moved to San Antonio when he was a toddler after his father accepted a job at the former Kelly Air Force Base.
He attended Central Catholic High School and St. Mary’s University where he majored in political science but took courses in accounting and became interested in law. After earning his law degree from George Washington University, he returned with his wife and first born to San Antonio to be closer to family.
Hernández worked in the City Attorney’s office from 1978 to 1982, and for District Attorney Sam Millsap starting in 1983. He soon began to attend board of managers meetings for the Bexar County Hospital District.
When the district decided to hire a full-time attorney, the CEO at the time tapped Hernández for the job.
Hernández joined University Health as its attorney in 1983. He was named vice president for legal services in 1990, promoted to executive vice president in 2000 and to president and CEO in 2005.
In 2013, University Health opened a new health center downtown replacing the century-old Robert B. Green Clinic. A year later, it opened the million-square-foot Sky Tower which doubled the size of University Hospital.
“The first things that I concentrated on were facilities and culture,” Hernández said. “To be top tier, you had to have the right care.”
While all hospitals should be good at taking care of people, he said, a top-tier facility is also good at compassion. “So the culture had to change.”
Aging University Health facilities also needed an upgrade. “[There] were four major health systems in town and we were the fourth-rated health system,” he said. “We had facilities that were built in the late ‘60s to early ‘80s. In the hospital business, after 25 years, health facilities are really obsolete.”
Hernández said building new health centers makes the entire system more efficient, freeing up the main hospital for the most critical care, and serving a need in communities known to be health deserts.
During his first few years as CEO, Hernández tried to broker a public-private partnership with the Christus Santa Rosa health system that did not pan out, he said. Instead, the administration turned its focus to completing the downtown health center and the Sky Tower.
But, “we had gaps in what we had done with the Sky Tower, and women and children were the two gaps,” he said. When the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital opened in December, it brought Level IV neonatal intensive care and maternal care to San Antonio and South Texas in a more updated facility.
In 2023, University Health invested $286.7 million in capital assets as part of its ongoing capital improvement plan, according to its most recent financial statement. It’s net position increased by $341.5 million, or 16.1% due to increases in operating revenue and property tax revenue. Operating revenue also went up, by $207.8 million, or 8.9%, while expenses increased by $271.0 million, or 10.3%.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai called it a “tremendous honor” to work with Hernández on a number of projects. “Under his direction, University Health has grown into a powerhouse of a public hospital system, to the benefit of the entire county,” he said.
Last week, Sakai recognized Hernández’s service to the community with the Hidalgo Award, Bexar County’s highest award given to a person who has made a great contribution in service to the county.
Hernández plans to use his time in retirement to write a book about what he has learned during his long career and spend time with his three grandchildren.
“I look back and feel that I’ve been able to make a difference for the community and that makes me very happy,” he said. “It’s not just facilities — it’s a whole plethora of things … but I think that people really value this organization and value the care they’re getting.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the opening date of University Health Wheatley, the location of University Health Vida and the number of locations within University Health — and to correctly state that the Women’s and Children’s Hospital is a new facility that will house preexisting Level IV neonatal intensive care and maternal care.
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