MONROE — Valley General Hospital has selected a Kirkland health care consultant to serve as its interim chief executive.
Phil Sandifer has taken over the duties as the hospital’s chief executive. He will receive a salary of $19,000 a month.
Sandifer, 71, is replacing Mark Judy, who announced in March that he was stepping down on July 29.
Sandifer said he will stay on until a new chief executive is selected but has no interest in being considered for the permanent post. He is past chief executive of Island Hospital in Anacortes, serving there from 1983 to 2000.
Judy will be paid $90,160, the equivalent of six months of salary, plus health-care benefits of $535 a month.
He also has agreed to be available by telephone or in person to consult with the hospital for six months.
Judy, 61, was hired as the hospital’s chief executive in 2000. Both Judy and board members said the departure was amicable.
The hospital paid a Seattle consulting firm, Speaking to Win, $6,812 to assist with the announcement of Judy’s departure in March.
Sandifer has a master’s degree in hospital administration from Baylor University and a master’s degree in system management from the University of Southern California.
Sandifer has served as interim chief executive for a number of hospitals, including those in Moses Lake; Lake Chelan; and Glendive, Mont., and as interim administrator of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California.
He has worked at The Lakes Group, a Kirkland consulting firm, since June 2000.
Sandifer said he looks forward to the interim job in Monroe, in part because it has long-term plans in place for the hospital’s future.
“I’ll focus on getting a solid foundation so when the new chief executive walks in the door, there’s a little less of a learning curve,” he said.
In 1996, Sandifer was asked to join a federal Agency for International Development trip to Siberia, where he discussed his experience in health-care administration with health workers there.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486, salyer@heraldnet.com.
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