FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: 406-247-7164, newsroom@ihs.gov
IHS announces new CEO of Blackfeet Service Unit, Browning, Montana
Dee Hutchison, BSN, MSHCA brings nearly 30 years of experience in health care administration and clinical care to IHS services in Montana.
The Billings Area Office of the Indian Health Service welcomes Dee Hutchison, BSN, MSHCA, to the Blackfeet Service Unit as the new chief executive officer. Hutchison started her career as a nurse and has served in a number of leadership positions with IHS and with tribal organizations.
"With her extensive experience in health care administration and direct clinical care with the Indian Health Service as well as with the private sector and self-governance tribes, Ms. Hutchison brings a deep commitment to quality care, relationship based care and excellence in health care administration to her new role," states Acting Billings Area Director Bryce Redgrave.
"Quality characteristics that are grounded on and driven by the philosophy of patient centered care is what I am all about," says Ms. Hutchison. "In optimized health care systems, the system is carefully and intentionally designed around the patient, the system works for the patient and community served and the system delivers positive patient and medical outcomes."
Previously, Hutchison served in the capacity of CEO for the Colorado River Service Unit, in Arizona; Crow/Northern Cheyenne Service Unit, in Montana; Alaska Native Medical Center, in Alaska; and Shiprock Service Unit, in New Mexico. In addition, she held the positions of administrative officer for the Shiprock and Crownpoint Service Units in New Mexico, executive director for the Navajo Home Health Agency with the Navajo Nation and orthopedic rehabilitation nurse with the Abdulaziz Air Force Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She also previously worked at the IHS Phoenix Area Office as a management analyst, supporting the Service Unit CEOs in their responsibilities. Additionally, she has worked as a registered nurse in community/public health, intensive care, and medical/surgical nursing, and emergency flight transport. Previously, she also operated her own consulting business and provided professional health care consultation services.
Hutchison has a master's degree in health care administration from the Independence University, Salt Lake City, Utah and a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Colorado in Denver.
Throughout her career, Hutchison has received recognition and numerous awards for her outstanding leadership and contributions to health care improvements. Most recently, she received the 2014 Chief Executive Officer of the Year Award from the IHS Direct Service Tribes Advisory Committee for her work with the five tribes of Arizona, Nevada and California and the Sherman Indian School IHS Clinic in California that are served by IHS's Colorado River Service Unit.
Hutchison is a member of the Navajo Tribe and was raised on the Navajo Indian Reservation where her extended clan continues to reside. She and her husband, John, are looking forward to joining the Browning community, where they will reside.
The Blackfeet Service Unit includes the 28-bed Blackfeet Community Hospital in Browning, Montana, as well as the Heart Butte Health Station, which operates four days a week in Heart Butte, Montana. For more information about IHS's Blackfeet Service Unit, visit https://www.ihs.gov/billings/index.cfm/healthcarefacilities/blackfeet.
The IHS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 2.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.
