James J. Farsetta

James Farsetta serves as a subject matter expert on the GAO High Risk List and the national VA Call center initiative and previously served as a team leader for the Women Veterans Health program review.

Mr. Farsetta's involvement in the emergency response to 9/11 and his management of his Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care network during the 2004 Northeast electrical power failure made him a system resource in the area of emergency management. He was the first to establish a full-time position in the network dedicated to emergency management. It became part of his executive leadership board and an integral part of network operations. Immediately following 9/11, Mr. Farsetta was frequently called upon to make presentations on his network’s response to the attacks on the World Trade Center. For the past four years Mr. Farsetta has served as a subject matter expert in the areas of emergency management and women’s health. He has been a team leader, conducting fifty comprehensive emergency management capability assessments at VA medical centers throughout the country.  He has been a team leader in assessing approximately twenty-eight women’s health programs for VA. He is also a team lead for a program review of New Model of Care directed by the VA Office of Strategic Integration. This review involves evaluating the effects of a number of T-21 initiatives including proactive, personalized, patient centered care; Patient Care Aligned Teams; Voice of the Veteran; Women’s Health; and Mental Health; Non-Institutional Long Term Care; and Connected Health, which includes Telehealth, Telemedicine and My HealtheVet.

Mr. Farsetta participated in a comprehensive eight-week analysis at the Lexington VA Medical Center focusing on patient safety, facility leadership, ICU morbidity and mortality, nursing leadership, and environment of care issues. He served as a key liaison with the VA Network 9 director. He worked directly with the facility director as a coach and helped develop strategies for the successful implementation of report findings.  

Mr. Farsetta participated in a variety of planning projects involving the Fort Wayne VA Medical Center, the Salisbury VA Medical Center, and the South Texas VA Healthcare System. Working with a number of organizations on VA’s Transition 21 (T-21) projects, he helped implement the VA Secretary’s vision of transforming VA into a leading health care organization for the twenty-first century. 

He served as a mentor and coach to a number of VA senior executive at both the facility and central office level. He provided coaching to 17 senior executives and is currently coaching two Medical Center directors.