Phil Hofstetter to leave NSHC after 20 years of service
Nome, Alaska – Norton Sound Health Corporation’s Vice President of Hospital Services Phil Hofstetter will be leaving to become the Chief Executive Officer of the Petersburg Medical Center. Hofstetter accepted the position in mid-April and will be moving to Petersburg, Alaska at the end of June. He will bring 25 years of health care experience and six years of administrative experience with him to the small southeast Alaska town.
Hofstetter’s departure is a sad one for NSHC, but employees – from Administration to the departments he oversees – are proud to see him continue to grow his career and take on this new and exciting challenge.
Hofstetter moved to Nome from New York to begin work as an audiologist in November 1998. From 2004-2006, Hofstetter developed the Unalakleet audiology program while living there. He moved back to Nome in 2006 to become the Director of Audiology. In 2012, he assumed the Vice President of Hospital Services role, where he oversees over 30 departments.
In his years in the Bering Strait region, Hofstetter helped NSHC overcome many challenges and helped spur growth in new directions. He led the Audiology department through tight financial times and became one of the earliest advocates and experts of telemedicine as a way to treat patients remotely. As an administrator, he helped Hospital Services transition from its old building to the new Norton Sound Regional Hospital. In recent years, he oversaw the huge task of implementing the Electronic Health Record and helped steer health care in the direction of the Patient-Centered Medical Home model, which surrounds patients with a care team approach.
In addition to his accomplishments at NSHC, Hofstetter is community-driven, and his compassion, work ethic and friendliness are known region-wide. In 2005, he set off on a 1,000-mile kayak excursion from Nome to Barrow in order to raise awareness for the fight against leukemia and raise funds for a friend. His epic gesture inspired NSHC to name an annual award after him – the Phil Hofstetter Humanitarian Award, which honors those who go above and beyond the call of duty and employment to help others in need.
Hofstetter says it is amazing to look back at all that has been accomplished in his time at NSHC and as an administrator.
“I have always advocated managers to build their departments for sustainability that I loosely called the ‘walk away model.’ If I did my job correctly, this move should still allow the division to grow and promote this methodology, even allowing internal opportunity for growth as I move out of this position. I am always a proponent for change and look forward to the positivity of this transition.”
“I have the most wonderful management team and administrative team that allowed me to learn and grow at NSHC,” he said. “It is certainly bittersweet.”
In all that he does, Hofstetter shows initiative, motivation, and follow-through. His dedication to the corporation, its employees and people of the region has been demonstrated consistently for the last 20 years. Everyone at NSHC is happy for Petersburg to gain such a hard-working leader and wishes Phil and his family the very best.
