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Jimmy Lewis, CEO
Jimmy has roots in rural South Georgia where he was born in Cordele,
Georgia. Having graduated high school in Cordele, he attended Middle
Georgia College and then Auburn University. He received a Bachelor's
Degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn. Upon college graduation
he entered business with Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Albany
Georgia. From that beginning, Jimmy has held senior management
positions in six fortune five hundred companies including Firestone
Tire and Rubber Company - passenger tires, Fairchild Burns - aircraft
seats, Arthur Young and Co - consulting, R.J Reynolds - warehousing,
Cross Equipment and Gold Kist - agribusiness, and HCA and HomeTown
Health - health care.
He came to health care as a result of soaring insurance costs for his
manufacturing company. After forming a partially self-funded insurance
program for his company, his health care involvement led him to a
position on the board of directors of a hospital. He ultimately sold
Cross Equipment Company to become market development officer for that
hospital. That opened the door to becoming Vice President of Government
Relations for Columbia/HCA's 20 hospitals for the state of Georgia.
Thereafter, he took his knowledge of the rural health care delivery
system in Georgia, resigned Columbia HCA, and formed a consulting
company, The Leadership Group. The Leadership Group sponsored
development of the Georgia Rural Hospital Roundtable. The Roundtable
had 22 rural hospitals as members. Its purpose was advocacy for rural
hospitals in the state legislature in Georgia. Members were limited to
hospitals that had fewer than 100 licensed beds.
With much success and tremendous publicity for the issues of
Georgia's rural hospitals, one legislator pronounced that because of
the Georgia Roundtable's effort "rural hospitals in Georgia now have a
seat at the table". From there, Jimmy moved forward with a nucleus of
those Roundtable hospitals and formed HomeTown Health, LLC of which he
is CEO. HomeTown Health is a business development company advocating
for and developing business opportunities for at least 55 member rural
hospitals in Georgia. Activities range from managed care, to collective
purchasing, statewide marketing, as well as legislative representation.
HomeTown Health's efforts have been very instrumental in saving many of
Georgia's rural hospitals.
Jimmy has been instrumental in passing key rural legislation
and regulation for hospital based nursing homes, state merit, PPS and
critical access hospitals. All of these have been key to the survival
of rural hospitals and rural health care in Georgia.
Under his leadership, HomeTown Health has grown to now a
Georgia based virtual company where business partners and hospital
members have cumulatively over $800 million in annual sales from the 55
rural and small hospitals and 49 business partners. HomeTown Health has
expanded services into education as well having developed HomeTown
Health University which now boasts of 500 students mostly in the
Business Office arena for rural hospitals and also the employment of
GoToMeeting which is a conference call and white board capability media
tool. HomeTown Health just completed over 1500 hours of training for
rural hospitals in 50 geographic sites the recent conversion of
Georgia's Medicaid to commercials payors.
Jimmy has been quoted many times by newspapers and magazines
including the Wall Street Journal, Florida Times, and the Atlanta
Journal Constitution as well as serving as a speaker to many
governments and trade groups on the dilemma of rural hospitals and
health care.
Jimmy has been involved in very many state and local economic
development and leadership projects. He is a recipient of a number of
professional awards and recognitions. He served as the 1993 Chairman of
the Albany/Dougherty Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the
Leadership Georgia Class of 1992 and served three years as a host on
the Georgia Red Carpet Tour, and worked ten years on the Southwest
Georgia Fall Feather Hunt, the last two as Chairman. He received
several business awards including 1992 Small Business Owner of the Year
for Southwest Georgia by the Albany Chamber of Commerce and 1992
Exporter of the Year by the Atlanta Cobb Chamber. He has served on the
Georgia Chamber Board of Directors among other activities.
Jimmy is married with two grown sons. He and his wife June live in
Cumming, Georgia. He has many active hobbies varying from sea kayaking,
mountain biking, fishing and hunting to attending musical concerts.
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Kathy Whitmire, Managing Director
Kathy Whitmire is the Managing Director for HomeTown Health,
LLC, a network of 55 rural hospitals and 50 supporting business
partners. She directs the management services offered to rural Georgia
hospital members such as the HIPAA/Technology SHIP Grant Consortium,
HPG Group Purchasing Program, Business Office Performance Improvement,
HomeTown Health Training and University, Business Partner program and
Universal Service Fund Grant Program. Kathy saw the need for Business
Office training as a key to the survival of rural hospitals soon after
she began working for HomeTown Health in 2000 and has since led over
100 training boot camps, workshops, conferences, and online classes.
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Brittany Hendley, Director of Finance and Administration
Brittany Hendley is the Director of Finance and Administration for
HomeTown Health. She handles all areas of finance, logistics, budgeting
and business for HomeTown including Accounts Receivables, keeping the
website up to date, filing for the Universal Service Fund grant for
members, and planning all events. She has been with HomeTown since
August of 2004. She has a Bachelor's degree in Business and Information
Technology Management and has worked as an associate agent for health
and life insurance and an executive assistant in a hospital prior to
coming on board with HomeTown. Brittany and her husband Jay live in Griffin, Georgia and have one daughter.
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Donna Meeks, Director of Training
Donna Meeks has been with HomeTown Health since August 2005. She came
on board to coordinate the efforts of moving the education efforts of
HomeTown to a higher level. Donna is a business graduate of North
Georgia Technical College with a specialist in Customer Service and
Business Management. She has a history in the manufacturing business
office as an Engineering Team Assistant and Buyer. Most recently Donna
worked with the school system in Stephens County as Assistant to the
Curriculum Directors, Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent and
as Project Director for the Central Office.
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Jennifer York, Director of Marketing and Communications
Jennifer York is a native of rural South Georgia, born and raised in
Dooly County. After graduating with honors from Fullington
Academy, she continued her education at Georgia Southwestern State
University in Americus.
Jennifer worked for many years in restaurant management both while in
college and afterwards. During this time she was able to attend
seminars and practice first hand the art of customer service and
management. During her stint as Food and Beverage Director of The
New Perry Hotel, Jennifer’s restaurant received the honor of
being featured inGeorgia Living’s “Top 25 Places to Eat”.
Jennifer also held a management position at Geico
Direct in Macon, GA. While serving there she again was able to
use her customer service skills and was able to learn the skill of
sales and closing. By sharpening these skills, she was again
awarded with the honor of Geico Salesperson of the Month and was
continually recognized for her professional attitude toward customer
service and salesmanship.
After a brief stint in sales in Pittsburgh,
PA, Jennifer moved back to rural Georgia and began work in the
healthcare field. This is where she found her true passion.
Working in a variety of doctor offices ranging from General Practioner
to OB/GYN, she was able to learn the billing and patient access side of
each practice. Working extensively in a “clean up”
capacity to decrease Days in AR, Jennifer was in charge of all follow
up on claim status, denials, and past due balances. She
also was on the ground floor of a newly
formed FQHC and assisted in the “start up” by being in
charge of all insurance company verification and the complete
formatting of the patient access area.
Jennifer came to HomeTown Health in the fall of
2006 and has been the
Director of Business Office Programs serving as Director of
Medicare’s Flexibility Grant for Business Offices in the Business
Office Performance Improvement Program. Through this grant, she
has worked with Critical Access Hospitals to improve patient access and
business office functions.
Jennifer is very involved in her church as Youth
Director and choir
member. She and her husband Brandon have two small children and
have recently relocated to Madison, GA. She is an absolute sports
fanatic and enjoys listening to live music.
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Kristy Thomson, Director
of Technical Services
Kristy Thomson is the
Director of Technical Services for HomeTown Health. She is responsible for the
HomeTown Health University website, www.hthu.net,
including technical aspects as well as quality control. She
handles all technical projects for HomeTown Health.
After graduating from
Stephens County High School in Toccoa, Georgia, Kristy received a B.S.
from Clemson University and an M.S. from the University of Georgia. Before
moving back home to North Georgia, she worked as the Project Coordinator
for the Town of Jupiter, Jupiter, Florida where her technical skills were
quickly realized. While at the Town of Jupiter, Kristy received many Microsoft
certifications and worked very closely with the IT Department to gain
efficiency throughout the Town by maximizing the advantages of computer
technology.
Kristy has been
working with HomeTown since the summer of 2006 and was asked to
join the HomeTown Team in November of 2007. Kristy currently lives in
Clarkesville, Georgia with her husband, John Lee, and her son, Jack.
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The HomeTown Health Team
