California Health Care Personnel News Update for June 2011

Borrego Community Health Foundation

Mark Connelly has been named COO of the Borrego Community Health Foundation, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reports.

Connelly has served as vice president of operations at the foundation since 2009. In his new role, Connelly will manage operations for the foundation's community clinics and ancillary services in Riverside and San Diego counties (Folmer, Palm Springs Desert Sun, 6/27).

California Board of Behavioral Sciences

On June 17, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) appointed Sarita Kohli (D) and Christina Wong (D) to California's Board of Behavioral Sciences.

Kohli has served as director of mental health programs at Asian Americans for Community Involvement since 2005. Wong currently serves as health services program coordinator at Glenn County Health Services.

The positions require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $100 per diem (Office of the Governor release, 6/17).

California Department of Health Care Services

Brown has appointed Jane Ogle to serve as deputy director of health care delivery systems for the California Department of Health Care Services, the Los Gatos Patch reports.

Ogle is resigning from her post as a member of the Los Gatos Planning Commission, effective at the end of July. Ogle previously worked as COO of the Santa Clara Family Health Plan -- Santa Clara County's Medi-Cal managed care system. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program (Sanchez, Los Gatos Patch, 6/17).

California Department of Insurance

On June 3, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones (D) announced that Erika Sperbeck has been named deputy insurance commissioner of the administrative and licensing services branch for the California Department of Insurance, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

Sperbeck previously served as assistant secretary of California's Health and Human Services Agency. In her new role, she replaces Robin Baker, who is retiring (Wiese, Sacramento Business Journal, 6/3).

California Division of Occupational Safety and Health

On June 27, Brown appointed Deborah Gold (D) as deputy chief for health at California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA.

Gold has served as a senior industrial hygienist and senior safety engineer at Cal/OSHA since 2000. Her new position does not require Senate confirmation, and compensation is $121,860 (Office of the Governor release, 6/27).

California Health Benefit Exchange Board

The Senate Rules Committee recently appointed Robert Ross to the California Health Benefit Exchange Board, which is charged with overseeing the state's health insurance marketplace under the federal health reform law, the Sacramento Bee's "Capitol Alert" reports.

Ross is president and CEO of the California Endowment. Ross' appointment fills the last opening on the five-member panel (Van Oot, "Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 6/22).

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, San Francisco

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's governing board recently announced that it has named Jonathan Thomas as its next chair, the Sacramento Bee's "Capitol Alert" reports.

Thomas, who replaces outgoing board Chair Robert Klein, is a former Wall Street investment banker who co-founded Saybrook Capital, an investment and private equity company that has secured funding for clinical trials involving embryonic stem cells (Van Oot, "Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 6/23).

Doctors Medical Center, Modesto

Today, Denny Litos is expected to step down from his role as CEO of Doctors Medical Center in Modesto to take a position as a principal consultant for Michigan-based Health Management Associates, the Modesto Bee reports.

Litos led Doctors Medical Center, which is owned by Tenet Healthcare, for five years. During his tenure, the for-profit hospital took over operation of the former Stanislaus Behavioral Health Center and undertook an effort to expand health coverage to uninsured residents. Tenet is searching for a new CEO to replace Litos (Carlson, Modesto Bee, 6/20).

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto

On June 20, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital announced that it has named Craig Albanese -- chief of pediatric general surgery -- to a new role as vice president of quality and performance improvement, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reports. Albanese also will chair the hospital's Performance Improvement Governance Committee.

Also on June 20, Lucile Packard announced that Kim Roberts -- vice president of network development and management -- will take over administrative duties at the hospital's faculty practice organization and help develop the pediatric and obstetric physician foundation. Roberts formerly served as CEO of Santa Clara Valley Hospital and Health Care System (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, 6/20).

San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center

San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center recently appointed Todd May as chief medical officer and Shannon Thyne as chief of the medical staff, the San Francisco Business Times reports.

May previously has served as chief of the hospital's medical staff, director of the hospital's Family Medicine Inpatient Service and a professor at UC-San Francisco. Thyne previously served as medical director at Children's Health Center, San Francisco's largest public health practice. She also serves as an associate professor of pediatrics at UC-San Francisco.

The staffing changes were prompted by the departure of the hospital's CMO Hal Yee, who is leaving to take a position as chief deputy director for health services, medical and clinical affairs at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 6/20).

Sharp Grossmont Hospital, La Mesa

Sharp Grossmont Hospital has named Michael Murphy to the newly-created position of CMO, Becker's Hospital Review reports.

Murphy previously served as vice president of medical affairs at Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford, Ore. He also served as vice president of medical affairs at City Hospital in Martinsburg, Va. (Oh, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/27).

St. Joseph Health System

Kevin Klockenga, president and CEO of St. Joseph Health System-Sonoma County, has been promoted to executive vice president of St. Joseph Health System's Northern California region, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports (Espinoza, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 6/27).

The promotion, which took effect July 1, is part of the health system's effort to restructure its management team. St. Joseph's also named CFO Darrin Montalvo to oversee its Southern California region and Richard Parks -- CEO of Covenant Health System -- to oversee its West Texas/Eastern New Mexico region.

In addition to his new role, Klockenga will continue to work as president and CEO of St. Joseph's Sonoma County operations (Verel, North Bay Business Journal, 6/27).

West Wireless Health Institute

West Wireless Health Institute has named Robert Matthews as its new chief technology officer and Michael Caponetto as its new CFO.

Matthews -- who served as CTO for scientific research and development firm Archinoetics -- will lead the institute's biomedical engineering research and development strategy.

Caponetto -- who has served as CFO for two Goldman Sachs-backed companies -- will oversee the institutes long-term financial strategies and daily financial and administrative operations (West Wireless Health Institute release, 6/23).