Barbara Prichard brings extensive health care experience, both clinical and organizational, to her role as a consultant for Joint Commission Resources, a Continuous Service Readiness Consultant in the Southeastern US, and Joint Commission International, serving clients in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Ms. Prichard and her husband both changed career paths to pursue health care opportunities, going into midwifery and medicine after the birth of their son. They share a passion to help others and felt fortunate to be allowed to be part of major events in the lives of others. According to Ms. Prichard, “I always wanted my contribution to those families to be something that would enhance their lives, to remove barriers, and to be of comfort. I still feel that way when working with organizations.” 

Ms. Prichard has more than two decades of clinical, instructional, and executive experience in health care, service in medical staff relations, and board level experience in various organizations including management services organizations, physician hospital organizations, hospital association and health care networks. Her understanding of the dynamics of both hospital and physician environments, and the legislative, regulatory, and reimbursement challenges facing health care organizations, contributes to her ability to provide meaningful assistance to organizations as they strive for either initial accreditation, or continuous accreditation compliance.

Her most recent appointment was as Assistant Administrator of a rural community hospital where her responsibilities included operations, Joint Commission Accreditation, performance improvement, financial modeling, and medical staff liaison activities.  

She currently serves on the Mississippi Hospital Association - Health Facilities Licensure and Certification Liaison Committee, which brings together hospitals and various regulatory bodies to clarify requirements. She has recently served on the Mississippi Hospital Association Board of Governors, and the MHA Legislative Committee. She chaired the MHA Task Force on Court Committed Psychiatric Patient Legislation, and has been a founding board member of several MSO and PHO organizations. Prior to her administrative position, she functioned in a variety of nursing positions, including director of nursing, maternal/infant supervisor and ICU charge nurse. 

Ms. Prichard has served as faculty in various Joint Commission Resources education programs on medical staff standards, emergency management, as well as updates on environment of care and patient safety. 

Ms. Prichard feels that the one of the biggest challenges facing health care is “reducing the bureaucracy of health care, and the paralyzing litigious environment surrounding what are sometimes imperfect situations. I’m afraid we are driving great minds into other businesses and we need them in medicine.” She believes that in a perfect world, the hospital of the future would include a seamless and easy-to-use electronic medical record that really tells the story of the patient. 

Ms. Prichard, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, received her education at Stanford University (Asian Studies), the University of Mississippi (Nursing), and Tulane University (Business), receiving the award for Outstanding Graduate in both her Nursing and MBA programs.