Haley Director Headed for Stint in VA’s Southwest System
TAMPA Kathleen Fogarty, director of the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, has been named to temporarily take over the Veteran Administrations Southwest Healthcare System, including the troubled Phoenix VA hospital that has been at the center of controversy over patient deaths as the result of treatment delays.
Fogarty, 55, told The Tampa Tribune she will assume her new role Nov. 17.
I am not leaving Tampa, said Fogarty. I am just being asked to go out there and serve for a period of time. It will last at least 90 days, maybe longer than that.
VA officials lauded Fogartys experience.
She has clearly demonstrated herself to be a Veteran-centric leader who will bring a customer-service management style to the organization, VA spokesman Mark Ballesteros said in a prepared statement.
Southwest Healthcare Network officials say they welcome the choice of Fogarty.
We look forward to having Ms. Fogarty as our leader, said Jean Schaefer, a spokeswoman for the Southwest Healthcare Network.
Fogarty said Deputy Director Roy L. Hawkins Jr. has been recommended to assume her duties on an interim basis.
Haleys director since July 2011, Fogarty steps into a situation that has been the focus of national outrage over reports of dozens of deaths at the Phoenix VA Healthcare system as the result of delays for care. Revelations about the creation of secret waiting lists to make wait times seem shorter further intensified criticism of the system.
The scandal created ripples throughout the VA, with more than 90 facilities now being investigated into whether they had similar wait list manipulation. The controversy ultimately led to the resignation of former Secretary Eric Shinseki.
Fogarty will become the Southwest Healthcare Systems third interim director, said Schaefer, since Susan Bowers retired under fire in May.
New VA Secretary Robert McDonald, who was in Tampa last week to visit Haley, has promised a new era of openness and accountability.
Fogarty, who has worked for the VA for 31 years, will run a network of five hospitals in Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas and parts of Colorado and Oklahoma. It marks her first time at the helm of a VA network.
I think that we have to be very veteran-centric and very centered on our mission, said Fogarty. That is really what I am focused on. How to get through to an organization that has gone through pretty difficult times being centered on its core mission.
Honored by the selection, Fogarty said the biggest challenge is to restore trust in the system. That is our biggest focus. How do we restore trust to the veteran served by VISN 18, she said, referring to an alternate VA name for the Southwest Healthcare System. How do you get them to trust us to provide the outstanding health care we always have.
U.S. Rep. David Jolly, a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, lauded the choice of Fogarty.
I want to congratulate Kathleen Fogarty for accepting this challenge and for helping to be a part of the solution to the VA crisis, he said in a prepared statement. New VA Secretary Robert McDonald has clearly identified Mrs. Fogarty as a leader and I have confidence in her ability to be a positive agent of change in the Southwest region. When her assignment is over, I look forward to having her back in the Tampa Bay area.
The Southwest Healthcare System covers 352,000 square miles and serves about 278,000 veterans residing in the network, according to its website. It encompasses seven health care systems, five hospitals, six VA nursing home care units, three domiciliaries, and 46 outpatient clinics. Its budget for fiscal year 2013 was just over $2 billion, and the system employed about 10,600 people, according to its website.
Fogarty said she will take time off starting Oct. 28 and start her new role a few weeks later.
She said she will move to Arizona while running the network there. The regional office is headquartered in Gilbert, Arizona.
Tags: Veterans News
