California Health Care Personnel News Update for May 2011
Association of California Insurance Companies
Armand Feliciano -- former associate director of medical and regulatory policy for the California Medical Association -- has been named vice president of the Association of California Insurance Companies, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
ACIC represents more than 300 property and casualty insurance companies in California. As vice president, Feliciano will be responsible for government affairs outreach (Sacramento Business Journal, 5/17).
California Department of Social Services
William Lightbourne -- director of Santa Clara County's Social Services Agency -- has been named the new director of the California Department of Social Services, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Lightbourne will replace John Wagner, who will become the acting director of the Community Services and Development Department. Lightbourne's new role is described as an "executive-on-loan" agreement between Santa Clara County and the state, meaning that he will retain his compensation and status as a county employee, but the state will reimburse the county for his salary and benefits package (de Sá, Contra Costa Times, 4/29).
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, San Francisco
State Controller John Chiang (D) has nominated Frank Litvack, a medical device entrepreneur and researcher, to replace Bob Klein as chair of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the San Francisco Business Times reports. Litvack previously served as a full-time faculty member at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Between 2001 and 2007, Litvack served as chair and CEO of Conor Medsystems.
Chiang's nomination comes after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer (D) nominated investment banker Jonathan Thomas for the post as CIRM chair (Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, 5/23). Â Thomas is a partner at Saybrook Capital, which manages $750 million in investments (Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, 5/20).
Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles
David Carlisle -- head of California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development -- has been tapped to serve as the new president of Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, KPCC's "KPCC News" reports.
Charles Drew University has been on academic probation for the last few years. Carlisle said his first goal is to ensure that the university regains full accreditation, then he intends to focus on improving the school's financial situation (Jahad, "KPCC News," KPCC, 5/6).
Community Memorial Hospital and Ojai Valley Community Hospital
Community Memorial Health System recently hired new chiefs of staff for its two hospitals, the Ventura County Star reports.
The health system hired Marc Beaghler to serve as chief of staff at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura and Mary Dial to serve as chief of staff at Ojai Valley Community Hospital. Both appointees will serve two-year terms and also will serve on the health system's board of trustees (Ventura County Star, 4/29).
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View
On May 12, El Camino Hospital announced that interim CFO Ned Borgstrom also would serve as interim CEO, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal reports (Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, 5/12).
The hospital's board of directors has asked current CEO Kenneth Graham to step down in June. Borgstrom will assume his new interim role on July 1. Meanwhile, the hospital is conducting a search for a permanent CEO and expects to complete the search process by this fall (Dungan, San Jose Mercury News, 5/12).
Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta
Two top executives recently resigned from positions at Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
John Piconi, chair of the hospital's board, said that CEO Bruce Christian and CFO Doug Loop both have stepped down. Piconi said the timing of the departures were coincidental. Christian will be replaced on an interim basis by Mel Sauder, a member of the hospital's board of managers and an executive at LLUMC. According to Piconi, Loop announced his resignation shortly after officials learned that Christian was stepping down (Hill, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 5/4).
Oak Valley Hospital District, Oakdale
John McCormick recently started a new position as CFO at Oak Valley Hospital District, the Modesto Bee reports.
McCormick replaced former CFO Wayne Mills, who resigned in April. Previously, McCormick served as interim CFO for Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District in Brawley and also has worked as regional financial officer for Brim Healthcare. Annual compensation for McCormick's new role is $175,000 (Modesto Bee, 5/25).
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Joe Selby -- former director of Kaiser Permanente-Northern California's division of research -- has been named the first executive director of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. PCORI is an independent, not-for-profit organization created under the federal health reform law to provide information on prevention, diagnosis and treatment options.
During his work with Kaiser, Selby managed 500 research staff, 50 investigators and 250 ongoing studies. As PCORI's executive director, Selby will identify strategic issues and opportunities for PCORI and implement programs approved by the institute's board of governors (PCORI release, 5/16).
San Joaquin General Hospital, French Camp
The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors has named David Culberson as the new CEO of San Joaquin General Hospital, the Stockton Record reports.
The hospital's governing board recommended the selection of Culberson to the supervisors in April. Culberson has led the hospital on an interim basis since 2007, when the county hired the consulting firm Camden Group to help manage the hospital (Stockton Record, 5/5).
SCAN Health Plan, Long-Beach
Christopher Wing has been hired as CEO of SCAN Health Plan, a Long Beach-based Medicare Advantage insurer, Payers & Providers reports.
Wing currently is COO of the medical group HealthCare Partners and previously has served in management roles at Health Net, Blue Cross of California and PacifiCare. In his new role, Wing will replace former SCAN Health Plan CEO Dave Schmidt, who resigned in late November. Wing is expected to start his new position before Aug. 1 (Payers & Providers, 5/5).
UC-San Francisco
Jaime Sepúlveda -- director of special initiatives and senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- has been named executive director of UC-San Francisco's Global Health Sciences department, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Sepúlveda served as a visiting professor at UCSF during a nine-month sabbatical in 2007. Between 2003 and 2006, he directed Mexico's National Institutes of Health. In his new role, Sepúlveda will replace Sir Richard Feachem, who held the position on an interim basis after former UCSF Chancellor Haile Debas stepped down from the role in July 2010 (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 5/12).
UC-San Francisco Medical Center
In late June, Larry Lotenero plans to step down from his role as CIO of UC-San Francisco Medical Center after serving in the position for about 10 years, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Lotenero's resignation comes after the medical center undertook an electronic health record implementation project that went $100 million over its $60 million budget. In 2009, the hospital transitioned from an EHR system by General Electric to one from Epic Systems. UCSF Medical Center CEO Mark Laret said that COO Ken Jones would take "immediate responsibility" of IT operations at the hospital after Lotenero steps down (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 5/24).
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