New Tacoma psychiatric hospital supports leader despite report critical of past employer
The man at the helm of Tacoma’s new behavioral health hospital once ran another facility that ran into problems with state inspectors.
In The Seattle Times’ “Public Crisis, Private Toll” investigation, the newspaper took a critical look at practices at Smokey Point Behavioral Health, a 115-bed psychiatric hospital in Marysville. The report noted that in March 2018, “state inspectors had found problems so grave that they created a ‘high risk of serious harm, injury and death.’”
Richard Kresch, chief executive of Smokey Point’s parent company, US HealthVest, defended the hospital’s record and told the Times that “all of our hospitals have been fully compliant with all state and federal regulations.”
Smokey Point’s then-chief executive, Matt Crockett, now serves as interim CEO at Wellfound Behavioral Health in Tacoma.
Wellfound issued a statement supporting Crockett after The News Tribune, in light of the Times’ reporting, asked about Crockett’s time at Smokey Point.
“Matt has a proven track record in opening psychiatric hospitals, and we look forward to his leadership as Wellfound works toward achieving accreditation status,” the statement said.
Wellfound has yet to receive its safety accreditation from the independent, nonprofit Joint Commission, and is not fully operational despite opening in May.
The behavioral health hospital is run in a partnership between local health systems MultiCare and CHI Franciscan.
The Times reported that “Smokey Point’s first chief executive, with no medical license, would weigh in on which patients to admit.”
Spokeswoman Marce Edwards said the MultiCare Health System’s seven adult hospitals and one pediatric hospital are run by people with “a range of backgrounds.”
“One of the hospital leaders is an RN,” Edwards said.
Edwards also noted that “Crockett worked as a mental health therapist and has extensive experience in inpatient behavioral health hospitals.”
There was no response as to whether those in charge of the executive selection process at Wellfound were aware of any issues at Smokey Point before Crockett joined the Tacoma hospital.
Crockett was brought on to lead Wellfound about a month after its opening.
The hospital, in response to questions from The News Tribune in July about the departure of the facility’s original CEO, Maureen Womack, said Crockett’s “strategic insight and leadership will propel our mission to build healthier communities as we work toward meeting the important mental health needs of our community.”
Wellfound tapped Crockett to serve as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is hired.
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 6:15 AM.
