Noel Rea, health expert, to serve as interim CEO at API

Alaskan Noel Rea is the new interim chief executive officer at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

Meanwhile, the department said that on Dec. 27, 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified DHSS that API is “in substantial compliance” with requirements and found no deficiencies.

API had been flagged by CMS by CMS in September after a complaint had been made about federal compliance.

The team at API addressed the deficiencies through a plan of correction and after the unannounced survey, CMS withdrew their notice.

At the same time, API’s “deemed status” through The Joint Commission, an independent accreditation organization, was restored and it was removed from the State Survey Agency Jurisdiction. 

Noel Rea comes to API with 30 years of experience in Alaska working for public, private and tribal health care delivery systems. He was a senior director at NetworxHealth, a health care consulting division of Virginia Mason Medical Center, and has served as an interim CEO for other Alaska hospitals, including South Peninsula Hospital, Cordova Community Medical Center and Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). 

He received his Master in Business Administration in Health Care Administration from Alaska Pacific University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Colorado State University. Rea is active in the community, serving as a current board member for Anchorage Project Access, an organization that works to increase access to health care for low income, uninsured individuals; past board member for the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center; and he just completed his term as president of the Alaska chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

John Lee, who served as acting CEO, returned to his role as director of the Senior and Disabilities Services Division.