An Interview with Catherine Fagnan – Chief Legal and Compliance Officer

With over 20 years of legal and governance experience, combined with a personal passion for health care advocacy, Catherine brings a unique blend of expertise and insight to her role as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Spectrum Health Care. As she begins this new chapter, Catherine reflects on her professional journey thus far, what excites her about working at Spectrum, and the key priorities and opportunities she envisions across the organization.

1.) Tell us about your personal and professional journey – how has it prepared you for your new role?

My career path has been more of a mosaic than a straight path – each opportunity added a unique piece to a larger picture. When opportunities presented themselves, I embraced them wholeheartedly. This has enabled me to build a strong foundation with diverse experience, not only with complex legal matters but also with compliance and strategic issues in highly regulated industries. Each step in my career has equipped me with the skills and perspective needed to apply to my new role at Spectrum Health Care.

On a personal note, my son was diagnosed with a rare syndrome when he was two, so I quickly became an expert on navigating the health care system and advocating for his care to ensure I understood all of the resources and tools available to us. Through this experience I have become very passionate about health care and ensuring that everyone understands and has access to the resources they need so they can receive the right care, at the right time.

2.) What excites you about working at Spectrum Health Care?

What excites me most are the people at Spectrum. This is a company with a very strong culture—and that’s very important to me. I truly believe that a strong corporate culture is a company’s most valuable asset. To be surrounded by people who share the same goals and aspirations—the same North Star—makes my work much more gratifying. Culture isn’t something that can be forced, it must be nurtured and protected, and it is the difference between a good team and an outstanding team. After spending time with Spectrum’s nurses, PSWs, office staff, management and executive team members, one theme stood out—they are laser-focused on providing the highest quality care to patients, families and caregivers and all of them personify the company’s purpose—to brighten lives.

3.) What are key areas of focus for you at Spectrum?

Spectrum is growing and with growth comes the need to enhance compliance across our operations so we can scale to deliver more care to more people. We know we already deliver excellent care to patients, families and caregivers and we are focused on implementing new technologies and best practices to be best in class. This is not a quick fix but rather a long-term commitment to ensure everyone across the organization embraces new technologies, systems and processes and can seamlessly apply them in their day-to-day tasks. That’s where I come in - there is a lot involved with our overall compliance initiative but as I mentioned earlier, the key is to be surrounded by the best people and teams who understand the need to continuously improve our approach and have the agility to adapt.

4.) What opportunities do you see for Spectrum Health Care?

Having shadowed some of our superheroes in the field – our nurses, PSWs and Allied Health professionals—I think the opportunity for Spectrum is to grow and scale operations so we can deliver the highest quality of care to more people in Canada. We all know that we are in a pivotal moment with an aging population, burgeoning health care costs and overburdened hospitals. Spectrum is and can continue to be a key player in relieving this pressure to allow hospitals to do what they do best while enabling patients to age and be cared for at home—where we know they want to stay as long as possible. I am truly excited about what the future holds for Spectrum Health Care and delighted to be part of this amazing team!

To read more about Catherine’s appointment, click here.