Led Hospital from Small Rural Hospital to Renowned Regional Healthcare System
Fremont, Calif.—Nancy D. Farber, Chief Executive Officer of Washington
Hospital Healthcare System (WHHS), this week announced her retirement
after 25 years as CEO and 35 years of service to the Healthcare System.
Per her contract, Ms. Farber submitted her 180-day notice to the board
on May 1, 2019. The board of directors will be appointing her successor.
Ms. Farber announced her retirement to the Healthcare System in a personal
letter to the Hospital’s staff and physicians.
“I have been considering retirement for some time now … it
is not an easy decision,” she wrote. “After 35 years of being
a WHHS employee, and the last 25 years as its CEO, it has become a way
of life. I am extremely proud to work with all of you.”
A visionary from the beginning, Ms. Farber first joined Washington Hospital
as chief of strategic management in 1984. One of her early strategic achievements
before being named CEO was the acquisition of Washington West, which today
houses many outpatient programs. There was also the creation of the Washington
Outpatient Surgery Center, a very successful partnership with local community
physicians that remains in place today. Ms. Farber’s 25 years as
CEO are exemplified by numerous strategic initiatives that define Washington
Hospital Healthcare System today and have positioned the Hospital as one
of the regional providers of choice that competes with large systems,
including academic medical centers.
“We cannot thank Nancy enough for her dedication, vision, and service
to this Hospital and our community,” said Bernard Stewart, DDS,
president of the board of directors. “It is an understatement to
say that the next person has big shoes to fill. We have been fortunate to
have Nancy’s leadership successfully navigating the growth of this
Healthcare System for the past 25 years.”
Under Ms. Farber’s leadership, Washington Hospital has remained true
to the vision of community members who in the late 1940s, worked tirelessly
to establish an independent local community-serving hospital for the residents
of the Tri-City Area. Ms. Farber believes that her commitment to the provision
of not-for-profit health care within the district is best encapsulated
in a speech that was given by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1995 to the
Harvard Business School Club of Chicago, entitled “Making the Case
for Not-For-Profit Healthcare.” In his speech, Cardinal Bernardin
emphasized the basic tenant that health care services should never be
treated as a commodity and that the not-for-profit structure is the preferred
model for delivering health care services. Ms. Farber is a faithful proponent
of an independent and locally owned and operated hospital, which ensures
that the broad scope of acute care services meets the health care needs
of the diverse communities the Hospital serves. She has kept the covenant
with the founders of Washington Township by embracing local accountability.
She was instrumental in helping create legislation to ensure that assets
of any district hospital in California could not be sold to private entities
without a public vote. And when she was appointed CEO 25 years ago, she
was instrumental in bringing the core value of the Patient First Ethic
to the organization, which today is engrained in the culture from the
board of directors to the front line staff, ensuring that all decisions
made have the patient at the center.
“I want to single out the community’s commitment to building
and supporting our Hospital and allowing it to grow with the community,”
said Ms. Farber. “The community owns Washington Hospital, which
makes residents of the health care district the Hospital’s stakeholders.
This is why profits are reinvested into the Hospital’s programs
and services rather than being sent to distant investors. That local ownership
is what makes this community unique and we should all be thankful for
this treasure.”
Washington Hospital celebrated its 60th anniversary as a community hospital
this past year. The Hospital was founded and financed by residents seeking
to have quality medical care available to them in their community. With
a commitment to local control and locally focused health care, Ms. Farber’s
leadership led to the Hospital being named one of the top 100 hospitals
in the U.S. by Healthgrades in 2018. This recognition placed Washington
Hospital among the top 2 percent of U.S. hospitals for clinical excellence.
Additionally, during her tenure, the Healthcare System has experienced
overall unprecedented financial success.
While the average tenure nationally for a hospital CEO is less than five
years, Ms. Farber’s tenure of a quarter century is uncommon and
has strongly contributed to the success of the Healthcare System. Since
leading the Hospital as CEO in 1994, Ms. Farber has expanded numerous
Hospital programs, including neurosurgical care through the formation
of the Taylor McAdam Bell Neuroscience Institute. The Ohlone Student Health
Center at the local community
college was established in 1996 and to this day, the college campus clinic
is operated by Washington Hospital. The award-winning Institute for Joint
Restoration and Research program was established in 1999 and has since
become an internationally renowned program that continues to draw patients
from throughout the U.S. and beyond. A community mammogram program was
established in 2000 for underinsured and uninsured women in need of mammograms.
To safeguard that community residents have access to comprehensive specialty
care locally, Ms. Farber created the Washington Township Medical Foundation
in 2010, which today is home to close to 90 providers caring for thousands
of Tri-City Area residents. To better serve our community locally, in
2013, Ms. Farber led the strategic affiliation with UCSF Health, which
brought academic medical care and programs into Southern Alameda County.
At the same time, she embraced innovative programs to improve Hospital
efficiency such as LEAN (The Toyota Management System). These are only
a few of Ms. Farber’s strategic initiatives that are helping address
the community’s health care needs today and into the future.
While expanding health care programs for the greater community, Ms. Farber
led the organization to successfully obtain community support for the
construction of new medical facilities to meet the growing needs of the
community and the state’s stringent earthquake standards. This included
the Central Utility Plant and most recently in November 2018, Washington
Hospital celebrated the opening of the state-of-the-art Morris Hyman Critical
Care Pavilion, a 224,800 square-foot medical facility that houses an expanded
Emergency Department and Critical Care, as well as oncology, telemetry
and intermediate care units. Under Ms. Farber’s leadership, this
is the largest public works project in the district and will make it possible
for the Hospital to apply for trauma designation. This project was completed
on time and on budget. This new Hospital building completed phase two,
of three phases, of a Facilities Master Plan that commenced in 1992.
During her years of service, Ms. Farber has been active in the health care
industry and in her local community, having previously served on numerous
health care boards and committees, including the Dana Farber Cancer Institute
at Harvard, a legislative appointee to the California’s Managed
Care Improvement Task Force and the California Hospital Association Board
of Directors, among others.
Ms. Farber received her Bachelor of Arts with honors from Stanford University
and received a Master of Public Health from the University of California,
Los Angeles School of Public Health.
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About Washington Township Health Care District
Washington Township Health Care District is governed by an elected board
and includes Washington Hospital Healthcare System. Unlike a municipal
or county hospital, Washington Hospital’s operating expenses, research,
community programs, and employee salaries are funded by revenues generated
through providing patient and other health care services. Opened in 1958,
Washington Hospital Healthcare System has grown to include a 415-bed,
acute-care hospital; the Taylor McAdam Bell Neuroscience Institute; The
Gamma Knife® Center; Washington Radiation Oncology Center; Washington
Outpatient Surgery Center; Washington Outpatient Rehabilitation Center;
Institute for Joint Restoration and Research; Washington Township Medical
Foundation; and Washington West, a complex which houses UCSF – Washington
Cancer Center, Washington Women’s Center, Outpatient Imaging Center,
Sandy Amos RN Infusion Center, Washington Urgent Care and additional outpatient
hospital services and administrative facilities. Discover more at
whhs.com, and through
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.