'Not your typical' DHHR secretary

The secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources had taken her 2008 Harley-Davidson Street Glide from her home in Parkersburg to the capital city. She had worn a leather jacket and chaps for the ride, folding them and leaving them in the bike before arriving in the office -- a purse and a helmet in hand.

"I'm not your typical director of Health and Human Resources," she said.

But the former hospital executive and current Harley-Davidson dealership co-owner faces the same challenges as her predecessors.

With more than 5,500 employees, DHHR is the state's second-largest department, after the higher education system. It is charged with countless duties that include protecting abused children, administering food stamps and Medicaid, maintaining vital records, preventing tobacco use, and overseeing responses to natural disasters.

State legislators and Gov. Joe Manchin have praised Hardy's efficient management style, though a union representative says frontline workers aren't optimistic about pay improvements and other issues.

Hardy says she is a fast-paced leader who expects timeliness and accountability -- and simply wants to make a difference for West Virginians.

"I came with no personal agenda," she said.

'I move at a face pace'

Hardy, who won't give her age, grew up in Montgomery and began her career as a nurse, eventually earning an MBA from San Francisco's Golden Gate University so she could compete in the health-care management field.

In the 1990s, she became chief operating officer at St. Francis Hospital in Charleston. She served as chief executive officer at Putnam General Hospital from 1996 to 2002, then as CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital in Parkersburg until 2008.

In 2007, she and her husband, Steve, bought a Harley-Davidson dealership in Marietta, Ohio. On Nov. 12, they reopened the business, S&P Harley-Davidson, at a new store off Interstate 77 in Williamstown.

Hardy has loved riding since she was 16, when she tried out a dirt bike.

Manchin, also a motorcycle enthusiast, said in a statement to the Sunday Gazette-Mail that he had followed Hardy's career at St. Joseph's. Her leadership style impressed him. Hardy had also advised the governor on health-care policy in 2004, serving on his transition team.

In July, Manchin announced that Hardy would replace Martha Walker, who had served since 2005 and now heads the Governor's Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning.

Hardy said the job offer came as a surprise, but she was "thrilled." When she arrived in September, she faced several immediate challenges.

The department had gotten bad press over a decades-old court case about serious problems in the state's psychiatric hospitals. Swine flu caused its first death in West Virginia. The national health-care debate required careful study.

In her first week, Hardy appointed two teams to assess the Bureau of Behavioral Health and Health Facilities and the Bureau for Medical Services, which administers Medicaid. Vacancies have been a problem in both bureaus.

"I move at a fast pace," she said.

She says improvements have already been made. Since September, Medical Services has hired eight people, and BHHF has hired 78.

DHHR also hosted a job fair last weekend, drawing about 70 people, she said.

Hardy also has made several personnel changes at the top, moving former Medicaid commissioner Marsha Morris to a position as DHHR's deputy general counsel.

She appointed deputy BHHF commissioner Vickie Jones to head that bureau, replacing John Bianconi, who had retired.

She also reassigned Mary Beth Carlisle, who was CEO of Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital, to Medical Services. Carlisle sued DHHR three days after the move, claiming the demotion was retaliation because she had testified in the mental-health court case and had been planning to sue for gender discrimination.

Hardy has tried to improve DHHR's relationship with state lawmakers, who have often criticized the department for holding back information.

"The Legislature wants to make a difference as well, and they can only do that if they know that they can base it on measurable data," she said.

Delegate Don Perdue, who heads the House Health and Human Resources Committee, said Hardy has shown legislators she is working to make DHHR "more efficient and more responsive."

"I can't say that she has been unresponsive to anything that I have discussed with her yet," said Perdue, D-Wayne. "So far, our discussions have been very frank."

Still, Perdue said he and some other legislators think DHHR has deep organizational problems that one person can't fix. They hope to introduce legislation to somehow split up the department.

"What has happened is that the department has become so big that it's extremely difficult to have one agency head oversee it in a profound way," he said.

Like some other lawmakers, he is concerned about DHHR employees' pay and caseloads.

"The [Manchin] administration has looked very strongly at costs, and cost containment," said Perdue, a pharmacist. "And it's always been my belief that where health care's concerned, if there's a need, you meet it."

Hardy's success could depend on how much freedom she has to make changes, he said.

"Does she have a free hand? Or at least, a more free hand [than Walker]?" he said. "So far, the indications are that she does."

Gordon Simmons, an organizer for West Virginia Public Workers Union UE Local 170, said many DHHR employees aren't hopeful about improvements.

"I'm not even cautiously optimistic here," Simmons said. "I've gotten to a point where I'm very, very cynical."

He cited low pay and high rates of vacancies, which he said makes workloads "just impossible."

"The most universal assumption is nothing's going to change because the governor who put her in has been supportive of all the bad things that had happened there," Simmons said.

The average salary at DHHR is $31,100, according to the state Budget Office's most recent data.

Hardy said interest in last weekend's job fair shows that for many positions, the department pays "a fair and comparable rate of compensation."

Making the most impact in a cost-effective way is a priority, she said. She has not decided on any specific changes to programs, but said she is examining them for efficiency.

"There are so many challenges for anyone providing health-care services with respect to trying to reach as many people as possible," and doing it with the resources available, she said. "I think that's an ongoing challenge that everyone faces as we move ahead."

Reach Alison Knezevich at alisonk@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1240.

To see more of The Charleston Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.wvgazette.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

For full details on Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG) HOG. Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG) has Short Term PowerRatings at TradingMarkets. Details on Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG) Short Term PowerRatings is available at This Link.