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Larry Schumacher began his healthcare career in 1975 as a hospital orderly and control clerk at Lester E. Cox Medical Center in Springfield, Mo., while he was completing his undergraduate education in nursing from Burge School of Nursing and Southwest Missouri State University. Following graduation, he held staff nurse roles at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and at Cox Medical Center and St. Johns Regional Health Center, both in Springfield. In 1984, he moved into his first executive management position as director of critical care and medical nursing at Research Medical Center in Kansas City. He joined Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in 1988 as vice president of patient services and chief nursing officer. Following the merger of Mercy with North Iowa Medical Center, he was appointed senior vice president for Clinical Services and chief clinical officer.
Prior to joining Via Christi, Schumacher was executive vice president and chief operating officer for Mercy Medical Centers-Des Moines, where he had overall operational responsibility for a network strikingly similar to the one he now leads. He also served as professor of Nursing and Health Care Management for Mercy College of Health Sciences.
Schumacher was named president and chief executive officer of the Via Christi Wichita Health Network in January 2005, and in May 2006 began serving in an additional capacity as a senior vice president of the Via Christi Health System.
Schumacher holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration from Indiana University and is a doctoral candidate in Nursing Service Administration and Business Administration from the University of Iowa. He holds an honorary Doctor of Science from Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines and is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the profession's highest honor.
Active in the community, Schumacher serves on the boards of the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, The United Way of the Plains, Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice and Newman University | 