West Palm Beach VA Medical Center
Amarah K. Hicks, RHIAChief, Health Information Management Section
Privacy Officer Amarah K. Hicks graduated magna cum laude from Ohio State University in 2004 and maintains an active Registered Health Information Administrator credential from the American Health Information Management Association. Amarah is also a member of the Florida Health Information Management Association. She began her career in health information management at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona in 2004. She became the Assistant Director of the Health Information Management (HIM) Department in Phoenix in 2006, and in September 2007, she was promoted to the Chief of Health Information Management at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System in Denver, Colorado. Amarah now heads up the Health Information Management Section at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center and is the Privacy Officer for the facility. The department includes release of information, document scanning, medical record coding, transcription, and records management. These duties complement her training and education in electronic health record management and her interest in healthcare. She is an active member on various medical center committees including the Medical Record Committee, Revenue Committee, Compliance and Business Integrity Committee, and the Information and Data Management Committee. Amarah is also active in national VA committees. Currently, she is a member of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Privacy Advisory Council as a HIM representative. Amarah enjoys working for the Department of Veterans Affairs serving veterans and also being involved in managing a fully integrated and comprehensive electronic health record system.
Roberta WatsonChief, Ambulatory Care for Medical Administration Service Roberta Watson serves as the West Palm Beach VA Medical Centers Chief, Ambulatory Care for Medical Administration Service. She has direct responsibility for overseeing eligibility for health care benefits, all appointment scheduling, non-VA care referral, administrative inpatient clerical support, beneficiary travel, decedent affairs and Baker Act coordination. She is also actively involved in performance improvement activities associated with access both on a local and regional level. She began her VA career thirty years ago at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center as a certified dental assistant and worked her way up the ladder in administrative roles to her current position. She joined the West Palm Beach VA staff in 1997. Watson finds her work very rewarding. “I have the pleasure of assuring that veterans get the best care in the timeliest manner, while being treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.” Married with two grown children, Roberta loves living in South Florida. She enjoys reading, swimming and shopping.
Catholic Hospice
Patricia M. GunnVice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Patricia M. Gunn assumed the responsibilities of Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Catholic Hospice in June, 2006. As Vice President of Finance and CFO, Gunn is responsible for the overall functioning of the fiscal support services including budgetary control, strategic financial planning and investment management and Human Resources. “Two years before joining Catholic Hospice, my father, Buenaventura Rappaccioli, became terminally ill and selected Catholic Hospice as his provider for hospice services. It was then that I experienced first hand the value of hospice services. Through this experience, I grew admiration for the mission and devotion of the Catholic Hospice staff,” said Gunn. Gunn, who has expertise in financial and business management, came to Catholic Hospice from Memorial Regional Hospital. A seasoned financial manager with 17 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Gunn has held management positions at large organizations including National Mentor, Inc. and United Health Group. Prior to receiving her M.B.A. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business with focus on Finance and Statistics.
North Broward Medical Center
Kevin Fusco, FACHECOO/Ethics and Compliance Officer Looking around North Broward Medical Center, it is hard to find an area that Kevin Fusco has not touched. As the Chief Operations Officer of the hospital, Kevin oversees allied and ancillary services including Radiology, Cardiology, Cancer Services, Laboratory, Pharmacy, Respiratory, Nutritional, Quality Management, Environmental, Security, Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Project Management. Kevin is also responsible for approximately 400 full-time employees. Kevin joined the Broward Health family in 1985 as a nuclear medicine technologist at Broward General Medical Center. Since then, he quickly moved up the ladder and has contributed greatly to the entire Broward Health system. As Regional Manager of Radiology at North Broward Medical Center, Kevin played an instrumental role in obtaining ACR accreditation for the Nuclear Medicine Department, the first hospital-based program in Florida to achieve that designation. He successfully implemented Picture Archiving Communication Systems (PACS) at three of the four Broward Health hospitals. Not to mention, Kevin has led several Process Improvement Teams, including improving results for Patient Safety Indicators on AHCA website and Creating a Powerful Culture of Safety. Adding to his list of numerous achievements, this past January Kevin was named a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the nations leading professional society for healthcare leaders. Fellow status represents achievement of the highest standard of professional development and only 7,500 healthcare executives maintain this distinction. It is Kevins dedication to process improvement and unique sense of humor that make him such a valuable asset to both North Broward Medical Center and the entire Broward Health family.
