Health Care Executive Samuel Soltis Is New NCCHC Board Chair

Samuel Soltis, PhD, MHA, CCHP, is the new chair of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care Governance Board. He joined the board in 2015 as liaison for the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Dr. Soltis is retired after a 34-year career in health care administration, spending the last 17 in correctional health care. He left the South Carolina Department of Corrections in 2018, after serving as deputy director of health services. He started his career in corrections as director of health services for the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice in 2002.

“My 17 years in correctional health care were the most challenging and most rewarding years of my career,” he says. “I learned so much, including the huge impact that incarcerated people have on local communities’ public health systems when they are released. I made it a priority to collaborate on reentry and continuity of care.”

Other accomplishments include introducing collaborative programs with the University of South Carolina, including telemedicine and telepsychiatry, and adding an Infectious Disease Department to the prison. He also partnered with community leaders to provide hospice, dementia, and geriatric care for incarcerated patients.

As chair, he looks forward to working with the board to grow NCCHC and to advance the organization’s strategic plan, especially as it pertains to making correctional health care more visible to a younger generation of clinicians and administrators. He says, “I have had the pleasure of working with NCCHC’s Young Professionals committee, and the talent coming into correctional health is so impressive. But there’s more to do. We need to be even more active in promoting correctional health as an important and vital career choice to universities and graduates.”

Prior to his career in correctional health, Dr. Soltis held health care administration positions in long-term care, hospitals and health systems, and a nationwide dialysis provider. He soon found NCCHC standards to be critical for success in running a correctional health program.

His involvement with NCCHC expanded to participation in education and conferences, and when he joined the board, to positions on the education and finance committees. He is also a past chair of the board of directors of NCCHC Resources, NCCHC’s consulting arm.

Pauline Marcussen, DHA, RHIA, CCHP, health care services administrator for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, was elected chair-elect. She serves as the liaison to the NCCHC board from the American Health Information Management Association.

Nancy White, MA, LPC, continues her tenure as treasurer. She is the American Counseling Association liaison to the board, and a team leader with Truman Medical Center Behavioral Health, Kansas City, Missouri.