Four from ScionHealth Included Among Becker’s Black Healthcare Leaders to Know

National publication recognizes specialty hospital market CEOs Anyebe and Washington, corporate clinical leaders Peters-Kinzy and Poullard

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (May 20, 2024) – Four leaders from ScionHealth – two specialty hospital market CEOs and two corporate clinical executives – were recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review on its 2024 list of Black Healthcare Leaders to Know this month.

The national Becker’s list includes more than 230 individuals “who are shaping the patient experience, educating and training the next generation of healthcare providers, and furthering equity and inclusion,” according to the publication’s website.  

The ScionHealth honorees are Abiola Anyebe, Market CEO for Kindred Hospitals of North Texas; Tarra Washington, Market CEO for Cornerstone Specialty Hospitals of Oklahoma; Vanessa Peters-Kinzy, Vice President of Clinical Operations for Community Hospitals; and James Poullard, Senior Vice President for Support Services, Health Equity and Experience.

Here is some of what Becker’s had to say about each individual’s role and responsibilities:

• Abiola Anyebe: Ms. Anyebe was promoted in July 2023 to the position of market CEO for ScionHealth’s Kindred Hospitals of North Texas, where she oversees all strategy and business, financial and clinical operations for the three Kindred long-term acute care hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Her responsibilities include managing the hospitals’ budgets, setting strategic objectives and targets for growth and volumes, executing clinical initiatives, recruiting and retaining staff, recruiting physicians and managing physician partnerships, ensuring compliance with laws, regulations and accreditation requirements, and establishing performance improvement programs and standards.

• Tarra Washington: Ms. Washington has served as ScionHealth's market CEO since the middle of 2023, overseeing all quality, strategic and financial operations for the system's three acute hospitals in the state. She sets quality and growth targets for the hospitals, oversees recruitment and retention of all staff, and manages physician partnerships for the three hospitals.  

• Vanessa Peters-Kinzy: Ms. Peters-Kinzy is responsible for ensuring quality outcomes, supporting operational excellence and developing CNOs for the community hospital division of ScionHealth, which spans 16 hospitals. Since the company's establishment in 2021, she has helped drive the launch of an enterprisewide national quality program and spearheaded the collection of baseline data through a Press Ganey survey conducted in 2023. Now, she and her team are working with leadership at each hospital to integrate the core components of the quality program and improve key quality metrics.  

• James Poullard: Mr. Poullard's duties at ScionHealth include oversight and operational, quality, and financial strategy execution of all enterprise ancillary clinical support services for the organization's 76 acute care hospitals and 18 community hospitals across 28 states. Additionally, he leads the organization's health equity and patient experience strategies.  

In addition, all four individuals are part of ScionHealth’s EMERGE Employee Resource Group for Black team members and allies, with Washington and Poullard serving on the ERG’s leadership council.