Rick A. Harris, Jr.
Associate Director
VA Erie health care
Email: rickey.harris2@va.gov
Phone: 814-860-2568
Mr. Rickey A. Harris, Jr. joined the Erie VAMC as Associate Director (Chief Operating Officer) on May 8, 2022, by way of the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VAMC where he served as the Chief of Medical Administration Service (MAS) since February 2020.
As a seasoned patient administrator/change management practitioner, Mr. Harris led improvements in all areas of MAS. Most notably, the MAS Centralized Scheduling Unit became the most efficient – overall – within VISN 16 and one of the most efficient across VHA – based upon key performance measures – lending itself to timely access to care for our Nation’s heroes.
His tenure also includes a 4-month detail as the Acting Assistant Medical Center Director, responsible for overseeing multiple service lines to include Nutrition and Food Service, Police Service, Environmental Management Service, Voluntary Service, Veterans Canteen Service, Patient Advocates, and Public Affairs. During that timeframe, Mr. Harris simultaneously served as the Chief Experience Officer and functioned as the pentad lead for the facility’s COVID-19 vaccination program.
Prior to that, Mr. Harris served as the Assistant Chief, Health Administration Service (HAS) for the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System. While there, he spent a substantial amount of time as the Acting Chief of HAS and was responsible for nearly 300 FTE.
Other key roles during his 19-year career in public service range from him serving as the Data Quality Manager at the United States Military Academy—Keller Army Community Hospital, where he led the organization’s data quality efforts and served as a technical advisor on matters related to clinical and financial workload reporting; to Chief of the Patient Administration Division at Kenner Army Health Clinic in Fort Lee, Virginia, where he was the recipient of the Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service Medal for his efforts streamlining all patient administration functions to include medical billing, records and correspondence, transcription, coding and medical evaluation boards—and serving as the organization’s HIPAA Privacy/FOIA Officer; to him serving as the Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer at the Birmingham VAMC.
Mr. Harris is also a Veteran himself, having served 6 years on active duty in the U.S. Army as a Health Care Specialist.
He has a degree in healthcare administration, completed the African American Federal Executive Association (AAFEA) Next Generation Program, the HLTI Health Care Leadership Development Program, serves as a mentor for the HLTI Virtual Aspiring Supervisors Program and is an active member of AAFEA as well as the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Being a leader with a continuous performance improvement and high-reliability focus, he is elated to continue serving Veterans as a member of the Erie VAMC team.
