Steven Webb
President and CEO of Unity Health of Searcy
Steven Webb, 39, returned to his hometown of Searcy in July 2018 as the president and CEO of Unity Health. He had previously served as vice president and administrator at Baptist Health in North Little Rock.
Webb earned a bachelor’s degree from East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas, and a master’s in health services administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is a member of Arkansas Business’ 2019 40 Under 40 class.
Webb was working in insurance when the premature birth of his first child spurred him into a career in health care administration.
Your dad is a preacher and you wanted to have a ministry. How do you minister at Unity Health?
I am not a good public speaker, so I knew I wasn’t going to be a pulpit minister. We all serve a purpose in the mission of this organization. We take care of people when they are at their weakest, most scared and filled with uncertainty and we do it with compassion. It is humbling to me to see a grieving or rejoicing family and to know they trusted so much to my organization. I work in a place where we see miracles happen every day. These miracles are a constant reminder of the greater work we all have.
What did the birth of your son Peyton teach you?
Peyton was born at 28 weeks and weighed 2.5 pounds. Now he is 15 years old, 6-foot-1 and eats about 2½ pounds of food at each meal.
When he was born we had faith he would pull through and be OK. His hospital stay opened my eyes to health care, in particular the hospital. Before this experience I had only been in the hospital to see a dying relative or to have surgery myself and my visits were always brief. However, Peyton’s stay was long. We stayed in the hospital for hours upon hours, sitting outside his isolation bed. This was the first time I realized there was more to the hospital than nurses at the bedside and doctors. There was an entire care team, each one working on a specific aspect of care. Everyone was involved in his care. … This was the first time I saw the complexity of a hospital.
What are your goals for Unity Health?
Unity Health has so many great things going for it already. My goal is for Unity Health to be a world-class facility and a destination for excellence in care. Unity Health is already one of the few four-star hospitals in the state, and as we move into 2020 and beyond, we are challenging ourselves to be even better. We are comparing our performance to similar facilities and striving to be recognized as one of the best hospitals in the nation. The medical staff and hospital associates, in my opinion, are the best in the state, and my goal is for them to be seen and recognized for their excellence in patient care.
How are you planning to grow Unity in the next five years?
We want to continue to meet the community’s needs and demands. We want patients to be able to receive their health care locally. However, growth is not more patients — growth is providing the right care at the right place for the right cost. Unity will grow because we produce the highest quality and best outcomes for our patients. I see Unity Health continuing to invest in quality improvement, cost reduction and focusing on excellence.
What is your leadership philosophy?
Interestingly enough, as a part of my leadership development I was challenged to write a leadership philosophy and share it with my co-workers. It was two pages long, full of wit. Never have the words so eloquently flowed from my fingers to Microsoft Word. For your sake, I will give you the abbreviated version. It is really simple: Do what is right, work hard and have fun.
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