Shannon Barnes, Ph.D.

Shannon Barnes, Ph.D., is a public health and healthcare quality leader with more than 15 years of experience advancing accreditation, regulatory compliance, performance improvement, and population health strategy. Her career spans public health agencies, community-based organizations, and health plans serving Commercial, Federal Employee Program, Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplace populations. She is known for translating complex accreditation, policy, and regulatory requirements into practical strategies that strengthen organizational performance and improve outcomes for the communities served by organizations.

Dr. Barnes has extensive expertise in NCQA accreditation strategy, governance, survey readiness, documentation oversight, risk mitigation, and cross-functional implementation. During her tenure with Health Care Service Corporation, she led enterprise-wide accreditation planning and survey readiness across multiple states and lines of business, including oversight of 47 survey submissions. Her leadership helped maintain full accreditation status across health plans, protect significant organizational revenue, achieve perfect NCQA scores, and generate approximately $1 million in savings through more efficient accreditation practices. She has also led and developed high-performing teams, advised senior and executive leaders, and partnered with legal, compliance, quality, clinical, operational, and business stakeholders to align organizational practices with evolving standards.

Her experience is equally grounded in public health systems and community-centered improvement. At the New Mexico Department of Health, Dr. Barnes led statewide readiness efforts that resulted in national public health accreditation. She also managed a $2 million CMS-supported health system transformation initiative that engaged approximately 1,500 stakeholders across New Mexico’s healthcare and public health ecosystem. Earlier in her career, she contributed to the Title X and Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant needs assessment and federal application and supported statewide strategies related to maternal and infant health, reproductive healthcare access, family planning, and teen pregnancy prevention.

Through her consulting work, Dr. Barnes helps organizations assess accreditation compliance, identify gaps, strengthen staff capabilities, and develop actionable strategies for improvement. She also leads qualitative and mixed-methods research, facilitates Community Health Improvement Plans, and helps public health agencies and community organizations translate stakeholder insights into grants, implementation plans, and sustainable system improvements. Her research experience includes study design, IRB approval, participant recruitment, qualitative analysis, SPSS data analysis, and report development.

Dr. Barnes holds a Ph.D. in Public Health from Walden University, a Master of Science in Community Health Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies from the University of New Mexico. Her doctoral research examined the relationship between historical trauma, dating violence, and pregnancy experiences among urban Native Americans. She is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, a Public Health Accreditation Board site visitor, and a graduate of the Leadership Foundations program at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.

In addition to her professional work, Dr. Barnes is committed to community leadership and public service. She serves as an executive board member of the New Mexico Alliance for Health Councils and as Chair of the Sandoval County Health Council. She also previously served as the governor-appointed Chair of the New Mexico Board of Body Art Practitioners. Across her work, she brings a collaborative, equity-centered approach to helping organizations move from requirements and research to meaningful, measurable action.