Shannon Hospital’s COPA Meeting Gives Public Chance to Sound Off

SAN ANGELO, TX — Shannon Medical Center held its annual public meeting regarding its Certificate of Public Advantage, or COPA, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026.

Shannon’s COPA has allowed it to operate as a monopoly health care provider in the San Angelo market since it purchased its only competitor, San Angelo Community Medical Center, in 2020.

Each year, Shannon must apply for renewal of its COPA with the State of Texas, and it is required to hold a public meeting as part of that process. Comments were also able to be submitted online.

Shannon has received considerable criticism since its merger with Community, though members of the public weren’t too vocal with negative feedback during Wednesday’s meeting. 

Only two people spoke against Shannon, including CoCo Simpson, a former candidate for county commissioner, who has levied criticism at the organization at previous meetings.

“To be clear, I’m not arguing Shannon has done nothing positive,” said Simpson, who acknowledged the hospital has expanded services and invested in its facilities. “But brick-and-mortar construction alone isn’t the measure of a COPA success. I want to know where is the evidence these capital improvements actually resulted in lower prices, shorter wait times or better patient outcomes? And how much of that investment was made possible by actual savings from the merger? That question matters, because one of the COPA requirements specifically calls for data showing savings from reduced duplication and how those savings were reinvested.”

Simpson also shared a personal story of her father visiting the Shannon ER after a fall. She said a standard lab test triggered a rigid sepsis treatment protocol, which resulted in the staff fluid overloading him without accounting for his age, weight or preexisting heart condition.

“It took five days from a rapid response team for him to recover from that fluid overload. My dad barely survived a Father’s Day visit to Shannon,” Simpson said. “While this highlights a broader systemic issue in modern healthcare where following rigid protocol takes precedence over treating the individual patient, it also represents a failure of quality care right here in San Angelo, and his story is far from the only one in our community.

“When competition disappears, patient feedback and quality oversight become even more critical, because patients have nowhere else to go.”

The only other negative public comments came from Donald Moore, who had relatively minor complaints. He said he didn’t like having to visit an orthopedic specialist that was in the same building as the urgent care clinic, because he was forced to sit next to sick patients.

He questioned why he received repeated requests to confirm appointments after he had already done so. He also asked if it was possible to receive notifications when appointments were running 30 minutes behind or more.

Finally, he felt Shannon didn’t do an adequate job of advertising Wednesday’s COPA meeting, so more members of the public could attend.

One woman spoke positively of Shannon, saying she requested a scale that would accommodate her daughter who was in a wheelchair. She said the requested scale was at the hospital for their next visit.

Shannon CEO and president Shane Plymell spoke at the meeting and detailed the hospital’s progress and challenges.

Plymell said Shannon employs nearly 5,400 people who contributed about 2,700 hours of community service. He said Shannon’s coverage area has expanded and serves about 700,000 patients over a 33-county area.

Plymell said the organization received an 86.6 net promoter score, and a score above 80 is considered world class.

He said Shannon also received a 4.9-star rating for courtesy and respect.

Plymell talked about construction at Shannon Clinic South, the site of the old Community Medical Center, which is expected to be complete by November 2027.

He said that will allow 400,000 patients to be served while adding more than 200 jobs.

Plymell also discussed the challenges of recruiting and retaining staff in a smaller market like San Angelo. 

Chief Medical Officer Michael Wood spoke more about that topic and said Shannon hopes residency programs, which bring young doctors to train here, will result in more staying.

Shannon also has partnerships with Angelo State University and Howard College, and holds summer camps to help guide youth on a medical pathway before they’re out of high school.

Dr. Kelly Koenig also spoke and discussed, among other topics, Shannon’s pursuit of becoming a Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which would give it the ability to offer 24/7 comprehensive life support and critical care for severely ill or very premature newborns.