Steven Lamar said Thursday he is quitting as hospital services administrator at the California Veterans Home at Yountville after only a month on the job.

But Lamar, who filled the post in mid-October, is not retiring. Instead, he plans to take on a new role at the Vets Home by working as a consultant, using his background in military health-care administration and finance.

For his part, Lamar looks forward to helping Vets Home administrators take on upcoming projects, including the Veterans Home Information System Project — a large-scale electronic medical records operation that he said will encompass nursing notes, prescription drug inventory and other data.

In a recent letter to Veterans Home Administrator Marcella McCormack, Lamar explained why he is stepping down.

“Unfortunately, I had assumed in error that I could re-adapt to full-time employment after serving as a part-time consultant these past few years,” he wrote. “The commitment of time and energy to this full-time position is more than I had bargained for. Additionally, the combination of a long commute and the demands of the position have exacerbated previously benign health problems.”

McCormack said Lamar’s decision to stay on at the Vets Home will allow administrators to draw on his strengths, including his leadership experience and expertise as a dietitian.

“His great strength is he can be in both worlds,” she said. “He’s excellent with management and leadership, but he’s first and foremost a clinician. ... He also worked at the (Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey) and led a leadership program for (military) health-care providers.”

Lamar, 64, served at Naval hospitals, in Bethesda, Md. and Charleston, S.C. In Silver Spring, Md., he was the Naval Medical Research Institute’s director of administration from the late 1980s to 1990. Also in the late ‘80s, he was deputy director and director of hospital administration at Bethesda’s National Naval Medical Center. Lamar was also BayStar Capital Management’s chief operating officer for five years, beginning in 2000.

As the Vets Home’s former hospital services administrator, Lamar is stepping down from a position created through the legislative efforts of state Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa.

“(Wiggins) appreciates his … willingness to lend his talents and expertise to the administration and the residents at the home,” said David Miller, Sen. Wiggins’ press secretary. “At the same time, she’s confident that as they begin a search for a new appointee, the Yountville administration … in conjunction with officials at Veterans Affairs and the Schwarzenegger administration, will select an individual that is equally qualified and committed (to serving California’s veterans).”