VA Maryland Health Care System

Local Executive Earns Top Healthcare Management Credential

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Dennis H. Smith, FACHE, director, VA Maryland Health Care System, recently achieved the distinction of board certification in healthcare management as an ACHE Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

June 6, 2008

Dennis H. Smith, FACHE, director, Veterans Affairs (VA) Maryland Health Care System, recently became a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the nation’s leading professional society for healthcare leaders.

The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) is an international professional society of more than 30,000 healthcare executives who lead our nation’s hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations.  ACHE is known for its prestigious credentialing and educational programs.

“Because healthcare management ultimately affects the people in our communities, it is critically important to have a standard of excellence promoted by a professional organization,” says Thomas C. Dolan, PhD, FACHE, CAE, president and chief executive officer of ACHE.  “By becoming an ACHE Fellow and simultaneously earning board certification from ACHE, healthcare leaders can show that they are committed to providing high-quality service to their patients and community.”

Fellow status represents achievement of the highest standard of professional development.  In fact, only 7,500 healthcare executives hold this distinction.  To obtain Fellow status, candidates must fulfill multiple requirements, including passing a comprehensive examination, meeting academic and experiential criteria, earning continuing education credits and demonstrating professional/community involvement.  Fellows are also committed to ongoing professional development and undergo recertification every three years.

“I am privileged to use the FACHE credential,” said Smith.  “I encourage my staff to pursue training opportunities that will allow them to provide quality health care to Maryland’s veterans, and I believe in setting the example,” added Smith.   

In addition to providing primary care and specialty outpatient services, the Perry Point VA Medical Center offers a full range of inpatient medical, intermediate and long-term care programs including nursing home care, low-level rehabilitation, geriatric evaluation and management, respite care, chronic ventilator care and hospice care.  The medical center also offers long and short-term inpatient mental health care, including an inpatient alcohol and substance abuse treatment program, as well as intensive outpatient programs for veterans with drug and alcohol addiction.

Dr. Olszyk, who received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and his Master’s in Business Administration in health care administration from the University of Phoenix, began his VA career in 2005 as the chief of emergency medicine at the North Chicago VA Medical Center.  Prior to his VA career, Dr. Olszyk served in the private sector as an attending physician and the head of the Emergency Medicine Department at the Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Ill., and as an emergency medicine staff physician in a Wisconsin based community hospital.

In addition to his role as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Perry Point VA Medical Center, Dr. Olszyk is an assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at Rosalind Franklin University – Chicago Medical School.

Dr. Olszyk, a U.S. Navy veteran, has authored publications and delivered presentations on emergency medicine at the local, regional and national level.  He is also a Fellow with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine.