Harbin Clinic names Deborah Smith as COO

Media Release- The Harbin Clinic has recruited Deborah (Debbie) Smith, 43, as chief operating officer for the Clinic. With more than 20 years of inpatient and outpatient healthcare experience, Rome native Smith has held executive positions with a number of larger medical providers, most notably Emory Healthcare and Tanner Health System.  At Emory she was assistant director of St. Joseph's Medical Group, managing the internal medicine and family medicine practices and assisting Emory leadership with strategy and operations. For Tanner, Smith held several increasingly responsible positions during her eight-year tenure, ending with five years as chief operating officer for Tanner Medical Group. The focus of her career to date has been comprehensive healthcare services within hospitals and medical groups that contain both primary and specialty care.

While at Tanner Smith built and led teams that accomplished improvements to operational workflows, quality, patient satisfaction and technology. She was also instrumental in growing the number of practices within Tanner from seven in 2005 to 29 with 37 locations across nine counties in 2011. In part as a result of her leadership, Tanner Medical Group grew to be the second largest unit within the Tanner Health System, with more than 400 employees, and scores of awards such as "Best Places to Work" in the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2005-2007, 2009 and 2011.

Interestingly, Smith began her medical career at Redmond Regional Medical Center in Rome, where she worked in the emergency room and in the outpatient registration area. This is her second stint at Harbin Clinic. From 1997 through 2004 she served in a number of Harbin Clinic positions, including the risk management department, and as the practice manager for large, multi-specialty groups. "As a Rome native, I could not pass up the opportunity to return to my hometown, and to Harbin Clinic," said Smith. "This is a dream job and I look forward to working with the other executives at the Clinic to continue serving the area's healthcare needs. I want to continue creating a culture of service around the Harbin Clinic's comprehensive healthcare delivery system."

Smith reports directly to Kenna Stock, who was recently promoted from chief operating officer to executive director. "Debbie Smith is the right person to take our operations to another level of excellence," noted Stock. "We are thrilled that her previous experience at Emory and Tanner can be drawn upon here, and have the utmost confidence in her ability to lead at Harbin."

Smith holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia.