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December 21, 2001 BOARD NAMES VA
HEALTH DIRECTOR The Board of Supervisors
today announced the appointment of Dr. Thomas L. Garthwaite as Director of the County of
Los Angeles Department of Health Services. He will also serve as the Department's Medical
Director, a post that has been vacant since August 2000. He assumes his new duties
effective February 1, 2002. At the same time, the
Board of Supervisors named Fred Leaf, who has served as the Acting Director of DHS since
July, to serve as Chief Operating Officer of the Department. Leaf is a 29-year veteran of
DHS who has previously served in key positions as Chief of Staff, and as a Division Chief
for Compliance and Contracts and Inspection and Audit. In those positions, he played a
critical role in formulating and implementing proper internal financial controls,
providing advice and counsel to DHS executives and other public officials, legislative
bodies, commissions, provider agencies, the media and other interested stakeholders. In a statement, the
Board said: "The team of Garthwaite and Leaf will be powerful and effective. The two
of them have considerable experience both in Washington and in our own health department,
and it gives us the nucleus of the kind of team we need to position DHS to meet the health
needs of Los Angeles County in the future." Garthwaite currently
serves as Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs and was
confirmed to that position by the U.S. Senate on September 8, 2000. In that capacity, he
served as the Chief Executive Officer for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and is
responsible for the operation of the nation's largest integrated health care system. He
previously served as Deputy Under Secretary for Health from 1995 through 1999. In its statement, the
Board said, "Dr. Garthwaite is an agent for change. He was a key member of the team
that turned around health services at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and we are
fortunate to have a man of his caliber and experience here. These are times that cry out
for change and reform in L.A. County's health system, and we believe that Dr. Garthwaite
is the right man at the right time for this challenging job." Garthwaite will be the
first medical doctor to serve as Director since the unified Department of Health Services
was formally established in 1972. He takes the helm of the second largest County health
system in the United States, with an annual operating budget of some $2.9 billion and
nearly 24,000 employees. The County's health delivery system includes six hospitals, 39
County-operated clinics and dozens of others operated in partnership with private
nonprofit community-based providers. In addition, the County health system is responsible
for public health services including restaurant inspections and disease control. A graduate of Cornell
University, Garthwaite earned his medical degree from Temple University. He completed his
internship and residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals before
joining VA in 1976. Board-certified in internal medicine, Garthwaite's VA career includes
nearly 20 years of experience as a physician and clinical administrator at the Milwaukee
VA Medical Center. He served as the medical center's Chief of Staff for eight years. At the VA, Garthwaite oversaw one of the most significant transformations in the agency's health-care mission in the half-century since the Korean War. As Under Secretary for Health, he was in charge of a $20 billion budget and a nationwide health care system comprising some 180,000 full-time employees, 163 hospitals, 800 ambulatory care and outpatient clinics, 135 nursing homes, 43 residential care facilities and 206 readjustment counseling centers. As the County of Los
Angeles has in recent years emphasized expanded ambulatory and outpatient care, so too has
the VA. Responding to changing veteran needs and national health-care trends, the VA under
Garthwaite's direction has increasingly concentrated on outpatient rather than
hospital-based services. According to its own
figures, with 27,000 fewer employees, the VA provided care to about 930,000 more veterans
during the past seven years. Assessing Garthwaite's
tenure at the VA, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi commented earlier this
year that "Dr. Garthwaite has much to be proud of," noting that "During his
tenure, the VA increased access, treated more veterans, improved quality and patient
satisfaction and reduced the cost of care per patient by more than 20 percent. His
reputation as a public servant is impeccable."
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