The VA Rocky Mountain Network (VISN 19) announced today that Dr. Michael Potoczniak has been selected as the region’s chief mental health officer.
As Chief Mental Health Officer, Dr. Potoczniak oversees the comprehensive planning, coordination and improvement of mental health and suicide prevention services across the network. This role includes working with mental health leaders and senior management at all facilities to develop and implement effective programs. Dr. Potoczniak is responsible for ensuring high quality inpatient and outpatient care, community-based mental health services, and psychology services. VISN 19 serves more than 750,000 eligible veterans across eight health systems and more than 100 additional care facilities.
“All veterans deserve integrated, high-quality mental health care,” said Dr. Susan Bray Hall, interim chief medical officer, VISN 19. “We are thrilled that Dr. Potoczniak, whose expertise in patient satisfaction, service quality, efficiency and resource management spans civilian, military and academic medicine, will be spearheading VA Rocky Mountain Network’s mental health care services for veterans.”
Dr. Potoczniak began working for the VA in 2011 as Program Director for the VA Palo Alto Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program, where she managed outpatient, residential, and inpatient treatment and hospitalization for substance use disorders. She was subsequently promoted to serve in the role of Supervisory Psychologist and Mental Health Program Manager at the VA.
Dr. Potoczniak is a U.S. Army veteran who has deployed twice, including as the Behavioral Health Leader for U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from 2015 to 2016, and has served in areas including Afghanistan, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait.
From 2017-2019, Dr. Potoczniak contributed to national policy as a member of the Creating Options for Early Recovery for Veterans (COVER) Committee, which evaluated therapeutic treatment models used by the VA for veterans’ mental health and provided recommendations that contributed to important policy advances, including the passage of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, which expanded mental health care and suicide prevention programs and improved access options for veterans.
Dr. Potoczniak was appointed Deputy Chief of Mental Health for the Loma Linda VA Healthcare System in May 2020. He will serve as Deputy Chief for one year from April 2022 to May 2023. Additionally, he will serve as Acting Chief Mental Health Officer for VISN 19 from August 2023 to February 2024.
About VISN 19: The VA Rocky Mountain Network is one of 18 geographic Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) across the U.S. and is comprised of eight health systems in Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, and parts of Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, and Texas, covering an area of more than 540,000 square miles, making it the largest geographic area in the continental U.S. VISN 19 is responsible for planning, budgeting, and delivering health care to more than 750,000 eligible veterans in the region.
Media Contact:
Jason Strickland, Chief Communications Officer, VISN 19
[email protected]
303-619-1145
Kayla Juliano, VISN 19 Deputy Communications Officer
[email protected]
970-314-6582
