Michelle Sims, FNP-BC, Returns to Ozarks Healthcare as member of Cardiology Team

Ozarks Healthcare is welcoming back Michelle Sims, board-certified family nurse practitioner (FNP-BC), who has returned to the health system to care for patients as part of the Ozarks Healthcare Heart and Lung Center’s cardiology team.

Sims joins a multidisciplinary cardiology team that includes Hussain Ibrahim, MD; Muhammad Khan, MD; A.K. George, MD; Andrea Moyer, MD, FACC; and Julie Gunter, FNP-BC. A lifelong resident of the area, Sims began her nursing career in 1992 and has spent more than three decades caring for patients in the region. Her extensive clinical background includes primary care, urgent care, home health, outpatient surgery, gastrointestinal care, medical-surgical nursing and radiology.

Sims earned her Associate of Science in Nursing in 1992 and Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2008, both from Missouri State University, formerly Southwest Missouri State University. She went on to earn her Master of Science in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Graceland University in Independence, Missouri. In 2021, she earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.

Her career has included more than a decade with Ozarks Healthcare. From 1997 to 2008, Sims worked as a registered nurse in several departments, including Outpatient Surgery, GI Lab, Medical-Surgical, Home Health and Radiology. During that time, she became a Certified Radiological Nurse and Certified Gastroenterology Nurse.

After earning her family nurse practitioner degree, Sims worked in primary care with the John J. Pershing VA Medical Clinic in West Plains and Ozarks Healthcare’s Alton Clinic, as well as Ozarks Healthcare’s Walk-in Clinic. Since 2019, she has served with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Home Based Primary Care program, providing in-home primary care to high-risk veterans in West Plains and Mountain Home, Arkansas.

Sims’ transition to cardiology represents an opportunity to build on her broad primary care experience while specializing in cardiovascular care. She sees patients with conditions including chest pain, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and arrhythmias, and works alongside cardiologists, hospitalists and other specialists to provide coordinated care.

“I like to think of my patients like they’re family,” Sims said. “I’m really good at listening to patients tell me what’s going on.”

Her background as a nurse continues to influence the way she approaches patient care, particularly her focus on listening and understanding each patient’s individual needs.

“I think one of the benefits of working here is being able to treat more of the whole patient instead of just the heart specifically,” Sims said.

“Michelle brings a wealth of experience, a strong clinical background and a genuine commitment to the patients she serves,” Aimee Jarrett, Ozarks Healthcare Vice President of Ambulatory Services, said. “We’re excited to welcome her back to Ozarks Healthcare and know that her experience in primary care, home-based care and now cardiology will be a tremendous asset to our patients and our team. It’s especially meaningful to have someone who knows and cares so deeply about this community return to serve the people who call it home.”

For Sims, returning to Ozarks Healthcare also means returning to a community she knows well. She completed clinical training at Ozarks Healthcare as a nursing student and has spent much of her career caring for patients throughout the region.

“I like that I work with people that I know and have known for a long time,” Sims said. “I like taking care of people that I’ve known for a long time, and I like that I can serve people right here where I live.”

Patients visiting Sims for the first time can expect her to take time to learn about their health history, concerns and individual needs.

“I will spend time with them getting to know them and getting to know their health history,” she said. “I want to know what I can do to help them.”

Through her return to Ozarks Healthcare, Sims is continuing a career centered on serving patients close to home and bringing her experience in primary and specialty care back to the community where her nursing career began.

For more information about Ozarks Healthcare’s Heart and Lung Center, visit www.ozarkshealthcare.com/services/heart-care or call 417-257-5950.

Ozarks Healthcare is a not-for-profit health system that serves more than 160,000 residents across south-central Missouri and northern Arkansas. With its main campus residing in West Plains, Missouri, the health system offers a full spectrum of healthcare for all ages through its 114-bed hospital, behavioral health, therapies, pharmacies, rehabilitation, and home care services, along with specialty and family medicine clinics. Ozarks Healthcare has rural locations across an eight-county service area and is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.

Michelle Sims, FNP-BC, Ozarks Healthcare Heart and Lung Center