California Health Care Personnel News Update for November 2011

Association of American Medical Colleges

Mark Laret -- CEO of UC-San Francisco Medical Center and the affiliated UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital -- has been elected to a one-year term as chair of the board for the Association of American Medical Colleges, the San Francisco Business Times reports.

Darrell Kirch, president and CEO of AAMC, said Laret has served as an active member of AAMC's board of directors since 2008. AAMC represents 135 accredited medical schools in the U.S. and 17 in Canada, as well as about 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 11/9).

Cal eConnect

Cal eConnect has named Robert Cothren as chief technology officer, Modern Healthcare reports.

Cothren previously served as chief technology officer for Cognosante, a health IT company based in Virginia. In his new role, Cothren will be responsible for leading Cal eConnect's health IT and data exchange projects (Lee, Modern Healthcare, 11/22).

California Air Resources Board, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District

On Nov. 21, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) appointed Alex Sherriffs (D) -- a family practice physician -- to the California Air Resources Board and the governing board for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, the Fresno Bee reports.

Sherriffs replaces John Telles, who recently resigned from the two positions. There is no compensation for either position, and the positions require Senate confirmation (Grossi, Fresno Bee, 11/21).

California Department of Mental Health

On Nov. 15, Brown appointed Beth Willon (D) as assistant director of external affairs at the state Department of Mental Health.

Willon previously served as a communications specialist at consulting firm Lucas Public Affairs. She also served as communications director for former Lt. Gov. John Garamendi (D). Willon's new position does not require Senate confirmation and annual compensation is $103,560 (Office of the Governor release, 11/15).

California Department of Veterans Affairs

On Nov. 21, Brown appointed Lee Gutierrez (R) as deputy secretary of minority veterans at the state Department of Veterans Affairs.

Gutierrez is a retired U.S. Army colonel who has served in 12 countries over more than 29 years. His new position does not require Senate confirmation and annual compensation is $100,428.

Brown also appointed Pouneh Simpson (R) as chief of financial operations for the agency's Veterans Homes Division. Simpson recently served as the chief of the State Personnel Board's Administrative Services Division. Her new position does not require Senate confirmation and annual compensation is $108,561 (Office of the Governor release, 11/21).

California Health Benefit Exchange

The California Health Benefit Exchange has appointed three people to senior leadership positions, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

David Maxwell-Jolly -- undersecretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency -- has been appointed COO of the exchange. Maxwell-Jolly previously served as director of the state Department of Health Care Services. He will start his new job on Dec. 5 with an annual salary of $205,000.

Sharon Stevenson -- chief administrative law judge and deputy director of DHCS -- has been appointed general counsel of the exchange. Stevenson has worked with DHCS since 1991. She will begin her new job on Jan. 2, 2012, with an annual salary of $200,000.

David Panush -- a health policy adviser to Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) -- has been appointed director of government relations for the exchange. Panush has served as an adviser to state Senate presidents since 1986. He will begin his new job on Jan. 2, 2012, with an annual salary of $160,000 (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/21).

CalPERS

Carol Baldwin Moody has been appointed senior portfolio manager for investment compliance and operational risk at CalPERS, the Sacramento Business Journal reports. Moody previously served as senior vice president and chief risk officer at Wilmington Trust, a retail and commercial bank (Anderson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/14).

CalPERS also named Sean Tracy to lead its new Enterprise Strategy and Performance Division, effective Dec. 7. In his new role, Tracy will work with CalPERS' executive leadership to manage strategic and annual business plans. Tracy previously served as assistant deputy director of the California Department of Mental Health's Community Services Division (Anderson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/18).

Catholic Healthcare West

Michael Taylor has been appointed senior vice president of operations for Catholic Healthcare West's Greater Sacramento-San Joaquin Service Area, effective Dec. 6, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

Taylor previously served as operations chief for the Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System. In his new role, Taylor will work with CHW executive leadership to set organizational goals and implement those goals in the Greater Sacramento-San Joaquin service region. CHW has expanded the service region to include six more hospitals than it did under Tim Moran, who resigned as president of CHW's Sacramento region in April (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/17).

Doctors Medical Center, Modesto

Tenet Healthcare, which owns Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, has hired Warren Kirk as the new CEO of the 398-bed hospital, the Modesto Bee reports.

Kirk replaces former Doctors Medical Center CEO Denny Litos, who left the hospital in July to become a health care consultant. Previously, Kirk served as president and COO of the 1,080-bed Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland (Carlson, Modesto Bee, 11/28).

First 5 LA

Evelyn Martinez resigned as executive director of First 5 LA on Nov. 10, three weeks after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors started the legal process to take over the agency, California Watch reports.

The board asked the county counsel to start the takeover after an independent audit found that First 5 was overstaffed, failed to adequately monitor its contracts and lacked proper oversight of its expenditures. First 5 criticized the audit, saying it relied on "half-truths, faulty assumptions and misleading information."

In an email obtained by California Watch, Martinez told her staff that First 5's board of commissioners "decided that it was time for new leadership here at First 5 LA." The commissioners plan to appoint an interim executive director (Lin, California Watch, 11/11).

Hospice of Santa Cruz County

In June, Ann Pomper plans to retire as executive director of Hospice of Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.

Since Pomper joined the hospice in 2003, the organization's budget has increased from $4 million to $13 million. Pomper also led efforts to relocate the hospice from Aptos to Scotts Valley in 2006. The hospice plans to conduct a nationwide search to select a new executive director by spring 2012 (Gumz, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 11/15).

Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia

The Kaweah Delta Medical Center's board of directors has appointed Nichole Meissner as medical director of the hospital's trauma center, the Visalia Times-Delta reports.

Meissner replaces Rebecca Zulim, who helped Kaweah Delta receive designation as a Level III trauma center last year. Zulim was forced to resign in November after being fired from Mineral King Surgical Associates, which has a contract to provide emergency surgeons for the medical center.

Meissner, who has worked as the lead trauma surgeon at Kaweah Delta for the past year and a half, said she wants to "continue the good reputation at Kaweah Delta" (Douglass, Visalia Times-Delta, 11/17).

Menifee Valley Medical Center

Menifee Valley Medical Center has named Gregory Padilla as its new administrator effective Nov. 17, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.

Physicians for Healthy Hospitals, which owns the 84-bed Menifee Valley Medical Center, said Padilla has 25 years of hospital administration and finance experience. The hospital serves Menifee, Murrieta, Perris, Temecula and surrounding areas (Wesson, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 11/4).

Mission Hospital, Mission Viejo

Kenneth McFarland has been named president and CEO of Mission Hospital, the Orange County Register reports.

McFarland has served as Mission Hospital's interim CEO since former president and CEO Peter Bastone resigned in May (Perkes, Orange County Register, 11/15). Prior to his interim CEO position, McFarland worked as CFO at the hospital (Selvam, Modern Healthcare, 11/16). In his new role, McFarland said he will focus on behavioral health, neuroscience and the expansion of the Mission Heritage Medical Group (Orange County Register, 11/15).

Mt. Diablo Health Care District, Concord

Mt. Diablo Health Care District's board has voted to hire Daymon Doss -- retired former CEO of Petaluma Health Care District -- as its new interim executive director, the Contra Costa Times reports.

Doss would be the first to fill the position since the district lost its hospital in 1996. The vote to hire Doss is part of the board's attempt to stave off dissolution, according to the Times. In February 2012, a county regulatory agency is expected to vote on whether to dissolve the district.

The board has yet to negotiate the terms of Doss' six-month contract or decide on his salary. Doss is expected to begin working for the district on Dec. 1 (Vorderbrueggen, Contra Costa Times, 11/21).

St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital, Camarillo

John Bibby has been dismissed from his position as president of St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital, the Ventura County Star reports. The reason for his departure is unclear.

Rita O'Conner, communications director for St. John's Regional Medical Center, said Bibby left to "seek other opportunities." She added, "Out of respect for John, there is nothing more I can say about his departure." According to O'Conner, the hospital will not fill Bibby's position at least for six months as leaders gauge the hospital's needs (Gregory, Ventura County Star, 11/14).

Sutter Health

Sarah Krevans -- president of Sutter Health's Sacramento Sierra region -- has been named COO of Sutter's 24-hopsital system, the San Francisco Business Times reports.

The COO role has remained unfilled since 2005, when Pat Fry left the position to become Sutter's CEO. In her new role, Krevans will be responsible for developing plans to reduce Sutter's administrative costs by about $300 million. She also will oversee Sutter's capital projects. Krevans is expected to assume her new position on Jan. 1 (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 11/11).

Tri-City Healthcare District

The California Board of Registered Nursing has placed Charlene Anderson -- a Tri-City Healthcare District Board member -- on three years of probation for failing to account for prescription painkillers she removed from a dispensing machine while working at Scripps Memorial Hospital, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The board alleged that Anderson failed to document the removal of the painkillers between May and August of 2006. Scripps later fired Anderson.

Anderson said that she regretted not completing her documentation, adding that she had administered the medications to patients and that no patients were harmed. Anderson also said that she would not step down from her position on the Tri-City Healthcare District Board.

The nursing board voted to accept an administrative judge's recommendation to stay a revocation of Anderson's license and place her on probation. Robert Walker -- the judge in the proceeding -- said that although Anderson's actions were serious, there is no evidence that patients were harmed by her actions (Burgin, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/18).