Acting director of Central Texas Veterans Health Care System is replaced

The acting director of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System is being replaced, at least temporarily, say Veterans Affairs officials.

Gerard Husson, director of the Beckley, W.Va., VA Medical Center, will serve as acting director of the health care system that includes hospitals in Waco and Temple. The system also operates outpatient clinics in Marlin, Austin, Cedar Park, College Station, Palestine and Brownwood. Husson, who is expected to arrive in Temple today , will oversee one of the nation's largest VA health care systems with about 2,680 employees. He will lead a team that will help to implement changes in long-term care at Temple. The leadership change comes less than 20 days after Robert Ratliff, who had been deputy director of the system, was named acting director.

VA officials would not confirm that this shift is related to an internal investigation of the Olin E. Teague Veterans Center in Temple. Sources told the Tribune-Herald last month that the investigation began after someone who was then employed at the hospital worked with a reporter for ABC's "Primetime Thursday," who conducted a hidden camera investigation.

Adam Pockriss, an ABC spokesman, declined to comment on whether the television news magazine was working on a story about problems at the Olin E. Teague hospital. However, a spokeswoman at the VA headquarters in Washington, D.C., recently indicated that reporters had conducted television interviews about the investigation in Temple with VA officials.

Liz Crossan, a spokeswoman for the Central Texas VA system based in Temple, said she didn't know if the incoming team and leadership changes were related to the purported television inquiry and subsequent internal medical investigations. She referred questions about that investigation to VA headquarters in Washington. Karen Fedele, a VA spokeswoman, said at the close of business at her offices on Wednesday that the department would not have enough time given the hour of the day to answer the questions about the investigation.

It also was unclear if Ratliff, who has a Ph.D. in health education, would resume his leadership of the system once the team finishes its work.

"The indications right now are that Dr. Ratliff will resume his duties upon the departure of Mr. Husson," Crossan said in a telephone interview.

Recommendations on changes to the nursing care unit at Temple were made after another team recently inspected that program.

"Their recommendations will help the Temple VA become a leader in long term care and a model for others to follow," Crossan said in a written statement for this story.

Husson will lead a team that will be responsible for implementing those recommendations. The four team members will do their work during the latter part of this month and most of February. The members in addition to Husson will include a physician, a registered nurse and a nurse practitioner. All four will act in an advisory capacity, Crossan said.

Ratliff served as deputy director of the Central Texas system for almost three years before assuming his duties as acting director on Jan. 3. He was selected to head the system until a new director was picked after director Dean Billik retired at the end of December.

The system has undergone turbulent times recently with a controversial proposal to shutter the Waco VA Hospital. Should the Waco VA Hospital be closed, most of the nursing home patients would be transferred to the Temple VA facility.