Putting Others First Yields Success for HMA Leader

Health Management Associates assistant vice president of revenue services Shannon White believes a strong personal work philosophy has helped her achieve success in life.

She started as a receptionist fresh out of high school at Sparks Health System, which includes Sparks Medical Center in Fort Smith and Summit Medical Center in Van Buren, in 1991.

HMA purchased the company in 2009, and since mid-2010, White has been part of a company with $2 billion in net revenue that oversees 23 hospitals in nine states. She reports directly to the vice president of revenue services, who reports to the chief financial officer of HMA in Naples, Fla.

White says HMA’s purchase of Sparks opened up an opportunity to expand the medical industry in Fort Smith, potentially providing an economic boost amid a shutdown of major manufacturers and economic drivers like Whirlpool.

Sparks Medical Center has become the hub for growing HMA in the area. In November, it opened Arkansas Regional Service Center, a 96,000-SF facility that employs 350 people with a potential to accommodate 600. 

The staff at Sparks Medical Center has grown from 100 in 2008, when White was featured in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class, to 358 employees. 

When previously featured in the Business Journal, White worked as executive director of patient financial services. She was given a promotion to her current position in June. She now travels on a regular basis, as she helps support hospitals in multiple states.

The new position means she cannot spend as much time as she wants on her 8-acre family farm in nearby Hackett, where she raises donkeys and horses. However, White says her new role and also now working with HMA means better tools and resources to do her job.

Amid the changes, White said it has been very important to her that some things stay the same. In particular, she tries to ensure the manner in which the hospital works and delivers service is never compromised.

“It’s been challenging,” she said. One method White uses is to maintain a hands-on approach in day-to-day operations of the hospital.

“I’m amazed and elated by the support offered by a firm in Naples, Fla., This was such an investment for them. It’s been a real walk of faith,” she said.

Another huge transition for Sparks should be under way soon. Tennessee-based Community Health Systems is working to acquire the company. “I, personally, look forward to any changes,” White said. 

White credits her success to the fact that she is grounded by her experience working at a private practice, where she had several physicians, including Dr. Larry Price, medical director of the AHEC residency program, who acted as mentors to her and taught her to see the industry through physicians’ eyes.

“I learned a sense of work ethic in health care that probably will always follow me,” she said. “No matter which side you’re working on, whether it’s the clinical side or the financial side, what we do is important. Patients need a comfort level when dealing with financial aspects of their care, and we try to make it go as smoothly as possible.”

Working in the hospital at Sparks, White says she gained a deeper appreciation and awareness of this. And, during this time, she says she was taught leadership skills by Jeanne Parham, then vice president of the Sparks Medical Foundation.

However, she also believes her upbringing and family values contributed to her ability to succeed. In particular, she credits her mother, Shirley Graham, for making her a strong woman. White also always strives to do what’s right and knows the value of hard work. “We don’t settle,” she said. White likely was following this adage when she attended college at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith while working at Sparks, graduating in 2004 with a degree in business leadership.

Most importantly, White said her family always supported the idea of “servant leadership,” meaning that putting others’ needs above your own is how to achieve greater success. “It worked for me,” she said.