Bassett Promotes Dr. LeCates

To Vice President For Quality

COOPERSTOWN – Dr. William LeCates, Bassett Hospital medical director, has taken on the additional title of vice president of medical affairs, President & CEO Vance Brown announced today.

In his new role, LeCates will oversee the Care Management & Clinical Excellence program, including “quality management, clinical effectiveness, infection control, risk management, accreditation and regulatory readiness,” Brown said.

Some of those activities were overseen by Ronette Wiley, who was appointed Bassett COO earlier this week.

As medical director for the past six years, LeCates has overseen credentialing and issues associated with the medical staff, as well as quality assurance, performance improvement and evidence-based medical practice, according to a memo from Brown.

He has been a member of the hospital’s Quality Management Council since 2003, co-chair since 2013, and a member of the trustees’ Performance Improvement Committee.

In making the announcement, Brown said LeCates’ appointment brings quality under the purview of “active clinician leadership.”

A kidney specialist and a 1997 graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, LeCates lives in Cooperstown with wife Debbie and their family.   A member of the Army Medical Corps, he has been assigned to rotations in Afghanistan and Liberia.