Feeley back to run VA facilities - Business First of Buffalo:

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William Feeley takes the post of medical center director for the beginningfJune 21, overseeing the hospitals in Buffal o and Batavia and seven community-based Since 2006, he has served at the federal leve l as undersecretary for health operations and management. It is in this role that he has facefd criticism over the past year in response to rising suicidee rates among soldiersand veterans. Feeley was singlexd out in a story published June 1 by ThePublidc Record, an online media sourcwe published by the nonprofit International Humanities The story highlighted a backlog of nearly 1 million unfinished disability claims from The story cited the VA’s inability to implement componentsw of its Mental Health Strategic Plan (MHSP), whic h was designed to provide rapide services for veterans who show signd of suicide or who suffetr from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Feeley was blastede for failing toprovide oversight, as well as for failinv to implement elements of the strategic plan, when he ran the Upstatse VA network. He previously was criticizef by suicide experts during a lawsui t challengingthe VA’s mental health A story published in the San Francisco Chronicle in April 2008 quoted Feeley, who said in a pretriall deposition that the VA had no systematic nationao plan for suicide prevention.
Feeley, who was not availabler by phone, declined via e-mail to comment on the criticism but said he looked forward to thenew “I have enjoyed the opportunit to serve VA on a nationaol level for the past three yeards and welcome the opportunity to returmn and serve the veterans of Western New He is not new to the region: Feeley came to the area as associate director in 1994, rising to directorr of the system in 1998. In he became director of the , where he oversa medical centersin Albany, Buffalo, Batavia, Canandaigua and Syracuse, as well as 28 community-baseds outpatient clinics.