Meet Parker D. Harris, chair of ACHE’s Early Careerist Committee, as part of the ACHE Blog series featuring ACHE’s early careerist healthcare leaders. Learn more about Harris’ role as CEO, the community his organization serves and the importance of getting involved in his local chapter.
Describe your current role and professional responsibilities.
In January 2019, I was given the opportunity to lead one of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation’s 22 hospitals. The facility serves Tipton County, Tenn., which is only about 45 minutes north of Memphis. In addition to the hospital, I also lead 16 different off-site hospital-based departments, many of which are outpatient oncology clinics and infusion rooms spread across all of western Tennessee. My role involves leading a team of over 500 employees to provide general and specialty care across the Mid-South. In addition to the operational and strategic duties associated with leading inpatient and outpatient operations, I work on special care advancement projects, one of which is related to lung cancer early detection and treatment. Mid-South Miracle, under the clinical and scientific guidance of Raymond Osarogiagbon, MD, has a goal of revolutionizing lung cancer treatment and reducing Mid-South lung cancer deaths by 25% by 2030.
Describe the community your hospital serves. What are some healthcare issues that are unique to this area and how do you work with your community?
For a community to thrive, grow and advance, it takes a few key elements. Schools, industry, churches, sanitation/utilities and healthcare are all critical items. In Tennessee, we have seen 13 hospitals close since 2010. Without healthcare services in a community, the prospects for growth are limited. If a manufacturing facility is looking to relocate to a community and bring 500 jobs, they’re going to need to ensure the workforce will be able to have housing, schools and healthcare services close by. If the community doesn’t have a hospital to provide those services, it will potentially cause that manufacturing facility to look to other locations to set a foundation.
The community is critical to ensuring the hospital’s survival, just as the hospital is literally critical to keeping members of the community alive. In Tipton County, the community and hospital both understand this and work together to ensure needs are met. Tipton County has about 65,000 residents and is in the heart of the southern Bible Belt, but I like to say we are also in the obesity and smoking belts. This comes with a whole host of healthcare challenges that the hospital is committed to serving.
The hospital has wonderful partnerships with city and county governments, volunteer organizations, law enforcement, EMS, fire departments and the local health department. Each is very critical to the health of the community, and the hospital’s involvement with these respective organizations evolves every day. Never underestimate the power of churches and their congregations in a local community. I recall during the pandemic, at a time when public distrust over the COVID vaccine was spiking, we had a local pastor preach to his congregation about the importance of protecting yourself and those around you. That following week we partnered with that church and administered over 130 vaccine doses in a few hours.
You have served as president of your local chapter, Mid-South Health Care Executives. Why is it important for early careerists to get involved in their local chapter?
I found my local chapter to be a safety net and a source of instantaneous mentorship. When I graduated from the University of Memphis’ Master of Healthcare Administration program, reality instantly set in. This wasn’t school anymore and I didn’t have a syllabus guiding my next steps. Thankfully, I found my local chapter as source of calm guidance.
One thing I love about our local chapter is the broad range of healthcare leaders it comprises. There were two key individuals in the local chapter who I really grasped onto in the very beginnings of my career. One was a senior IT leader in a local health system, and the other was a clinical service line leader. My background is accounting, so instantly I have exposure to wonderful individuals that come from completely different walks of life, different leadership styles, and different subsets of healthcare from which to learn. These relationships have helped to transform my career.
As an early careerist, sometimes the smallest things can have major effects. Career advice, projects you serve on and people you meet might send you down amazingly positive trajectories. I encourage early careerists to stay true to themselves and their morals, but never say no and always be open to exploring something new. Chapter leadership did exactly that for me, as it expanded my leadership abilities by exposing me to those outside of my organization and those who are in other areas of healthcare.
How do you practice professional and personal self-care?
Let’s face it, we all get bogged down or in ruts. Professionally, I have found this happen to me many times. I have standard work that I must do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, but that doesn’t mean I am limited to doing only those things. I found two ways for me to provide myself with some self-care. One is the stereotypical—challenging myself with something new. This can definitely be professionally rewarding, and I highly encourage early careerists to do this frequently, but it is not the only way. The other is sometimes more rewarding for me—going back into my past accounting mindset. One thing that really recharges me is digging into data and developing financial models and proformas for services. Just in the last month, I probably spent over 30 hours redeveloping an oncology disease specific model for one of our hospital locations. Actually, I pressed the send button on the analysis about two hours prior to me writing this. Doing that brought back some of the energy and passion I had coming out of school, which also allows me to stay sharp on that skill set.
My personal self-care strategy is much less nerdy. I have three beautiful small children and a lovely wife. Over the last three years, we have really picked up a passion for trout fishing across the southeast. We enjoy getting out in nature and relaxing and recharging. With three small children, we don’t get much quiet time, but watching them grow and learn is so powerful.
What role has ACHE played in your professional development?
ACHE has played a tremendous role. I grew up as a very quiet introvert who didn’t like social events. Participating in ACHE through graduate school helped me develop the skills of working a room and making connections with those around me. It provided a safe and constructive environment to hone this skill set. At education events and ACHE’s Congress on Healthcare Leadership, I began making more connections. Before you know it, I am the guy standing in the middle of the room making sure no one is left out and everyone meets everybody. Social skills like these have helped me grow and advance in countless ways. I could type pages and pages about the positive impacts ACHE has made on my professional development, but I think the social and networking skills alone are the biggest.
What advice do you have for emerging healthcare leaders when it comes to professional development and advancement?
Get involved! If you’re not involved in your local chapter, why not? Go make connections and invite people to lunch or dinner. You might learn something new. You might find out about a new career path.
For those of you who might not be as extraverted and comfortable, there are other ways. Participate on blogs, comment sections and private messages. Never hesitate to reach out to someone, specifically on professional development platforms like LinkedIn. As an example, the last graduate assistant I hired was a nontraditional healthcare administrative student who sent me a message on LinkedIn. I would probably not have met her if it wasn’t for that simple message she sent. Now, she is in a leadership role at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Finally, never forget those on the front line. As a leader, you have followers. You must make those people want to follow you. Respect them, reward them and coach them when needed. They are the ones who bring visions to reality and directly connect with patients daily. It is very seldom that I don’t spend at least an hour or more per day with front-line staff, laughing, learning and building trust. Those things might seem silly or a waste of time, but I promise you they pay dividends. In a time of crisis or need, when a leader has the trust of the staff, and vice versa, amazing things can take place.
Parker D. Harris is CEO, Baptist Memorial Hospital—Tipton, Memphis, Tenn.