GRAY DAVIS: Appoints 15 Members to Department of Managed Care Advisory Committee
To assist the state's new Department of Managed Care, Gov. Gray Davis (D) Monday announced the appointment of 15 people to the Advisory Committee on Managed Health Care. The committee will assist and advise the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care in the implementation of the Director's duties and make recommendations that it "deems beneficial and appropriate as to how the Department may best serve the people of California." The new members include:
- Dr. John Alksne, vice chancellor of health services for the University of California-San Diego and dean of the UCSD School of Medicine;
- Dr. Ronald Bull, practicing dentist and a senior vice president of the Delta Dental Plan of California;
- Thomas Davies, regional health care manager of GTE Service Corporation;
- Dr. Morton Field, private practitioner in internal medicine and endocrinology and director of the High Complexity Physicians Office Laboratory;
- Dr. Alfred Forrest, associate medical director of the Martin Luther King/Charles R. Drew Medical Center for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and adjunct professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Medicine;
- Jay Gellert, president and CEO of Foundation Health Systems, Inc.;
- Jose Gonzalez, president and CEO of Latino Health Care;
- Rosetta Hassan, an assistant professor at the Martin Luther King/Charles R. Drew Medical Center and director of the Genetics Counseling and Amniocentesis Program and clinical geneticist at the Prenatal Diagnostic Center of Southern California, Inc.;
- Irene Ibarra, CEO of Alameda Alliance for Health and chair of the Local Health Plans of California Governing Board;
- Elizabeth Imholz, director of the West Coast Regional Office for Consumers Union of United States, Inc.;
- Stuart Needleman, president and CEO of the Vision Plan of America;
- Dr. Pratibha Patel, medical director at the Harriman Jones Medical Group;
- Naomi Strom, director of development at the University of California-San Francisco/Fresno Medical Education Program;
- Arthur Torres, chair of the California Democratic Party; and
- Susan Urbanski, president and executive director of CIGNA Behavioral Health of California, Inc. (Office of the Governor release, 7/3).
A Patient Advocate
Davis also appointed Angela Mora as patient advocate for the Department of Managed Health Care. Mora currently serves as the executive director for Amigos Volunteers in Education and Services, a not-for-profit, community-based organization in Texas that provides health services for at-risk and underserved populations in a 13-county area. As patient advocate, Mora will "ensure enrollees secure health care services to which they are entitled under the laws administered by the Department of Managed Health Care" (Office of the Governor release, 7/3).