Diana McDaniel, FACMPE, Named Vice President of Operations, Arkansas Children’s Northwest

(LITTLE ROCK) July 19, 2017 – Arkansas Children’s has named Diana McDaniel, FACMPE, vice president of operations for Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW). She will be responsible for providing oversight and direction for operational, administrative and ancillary services at ACNW.

McDaniel most recently served as the executive director of Medical Administration for Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH), overseeing physician workforce planning, contract administration and credentialing for more than 500 medical staff providers. 

Her journey with ACH began in 2007 when she became a volunteer in Child Life. After spending five years with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Pediatrics, she joined Medical Administration at ACH in 2011 as senior project director before becoming executive director.

“Diana has served very successfully in a number of leadership roles during her career at ACH,” said Trisha Montague, senior vice president/chief administrator of ACNW. “She understands the system, has earned the trust of our physicians and administrators and will be instrumental in helping us ensure culture connectivity between the two hospitals. Diana is an effective, high energy leader and will be an asset to ACNW and our community.”

McDaniel completed her undergraduate degree in international relations at the University of Arkansas in 2005 and went on to complete a Master of Public Administration at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2007. She became a Fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives, Medical Group Management Association in 2012.

“I am excited to join Arkansas Children's Northwest,” said McDaniel. “I grew up in a small town in northwest Arkansas where there were no pediatricians unless you drove an hour away, and pediatric specialists were more than two hours away. I know we can do better by bringing care close to home. I want to create connectivity between Arkansas Children's Hospital and Arkansas Children's Northwest to ensure we create top tier clinical services to make children better today and healthier tomorrow.”

When it opens in January 2018, Arkansas Children’s Northwest will be the region’s first and only comprehensive pediatric healthcare center and will include:

• 24 inpatient beds to care for children requiring overnight stays
• 24-hour pediatric Emergency Department
• Pediatric surgery unit with five operating rooms
• An outpatient clinic with 30 exam rooms supporting more than 20 subspecialty areas and a general pediatric clinic
• A full range of ancillary and diagnostic services, child life and pastoral care
• Outdoor gardens, nature trails and interactive features designed for children
• A helipad and refueling station supporting Angel One, one of the nation’s leading pediatric intensive care transport services with more than 2,000 transports annually.

Arkansas Children’s, Inc. is the only hospital system in the state solely dedicated to caring for children, which allows the organization to uniquely shape the landscape of pediatric care in Arkansas. The system includes a 359-bed hospital in Little Rock with the state’s only pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center, burn center, Level 4 neonatal intensive care and pediatric intensive care, and research institute as well as a nationally-recognized transport service. It is one of the 25 largest children’s hospitals in the United States and is nationally ranked by U.S. News World & Report in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery, pediatric pulmonology, pediatric urology and neonatology. A sister campus, Arkansas Children’s Northwest, is under development in Springdale and will bring 233,613 square feet of inpatient beds, emergency care, clinic rooms and diagnostic services to children in that corner of the state. Arkansas Children’s also blankets the state with outreach programs that include telemedicine, mobile health, and school-based health solutions. A private nonprofit, Arkansas Children’s boasts an internationally renowned reputation for medical breakthroughs and intensive treatments, unique surgical procedures and forward-thinking research and is committed to providing every child with access to the best care available, regardless of location or resources. Founded as an orphanage, Arkansas Children’s has championed children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow for more than 100 years.