Redwood Regional Medical Group announced that it has hired David Hutchinson as its new chief financial officer.
Most recently, Mr. Hutchinson served as CFO for the Centre for Health Care, a multi-specialty private medical practice similar to Redwood near San Diego, the medical group said.
Mr. Hutchinson will oversee the finance and accounting and billing at Redwood.
[caption id="attachment_33469" align="alignright" width="132" caption="David Hutchinson"][/caption]
Prior to working for the Centre for Health Care, Mr. Hutchinson served as the CFO for Sharp Health Plan, a community-based HMO in San Diego. In addition to heath care and financial experience, Mr. Hutchinson also was frequently responsible for the selection and implementation of software programs, which Redwood Regional said would be particularly valuable as it moves toward the implementation of electronic health records.
“We are very fortunate to have found David,” said Wayne Fairchild, chief executive officer of Redwood. “His expertise in private practice, HMOs and hospitals will serve Redwood well, as we develop and refine internal systems to respond to the changes mandated in health care reform.”
[caption id="attachment_33471" align="alignleft" width="132" caption="Andrew Knight"][/caption]
In addition to bringing on a new CFO, the Santa Rosa-based medical group, which has nine campuses and over 40 physicians, also said Radiation Oncologist Andrew Knight has joined the physician-owned practice’s Petaluma office.
Dr. Knight obtained his degree from the University of California, San Francisco and completed his residency in radiation oncology at UCLA. Prior to his career in medicine, Dr. Knight received a degree in biochemical engineering from Stanford University.
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The St. Helena Region of Adventist Health, stretching from Vallejo to Lakeport and including hospitals, clinics and outpatient facilities, says it has grown 65 percent over the past two years. As such, Roseville-based Adventist announced a new structure to its executive team, which includes the hiring of Steven Herber as its senior vice president of medical affairs. Additionally, Orvin Fillman, currently the regional executive director of behavioral medicine at St. Helena Hospital in Napa Valley, will become the regional vice president of behavioral health.
Dr. Herber will be responsible for enhancing patient care and expanding regional physician services, as well as focusing on quality improvement measures for patient access. Previously, he served as the chief of medicine at St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley and medical director at the St. Helena Institute for Plastic Surgery.
Dr. Fillman will focus on behavioral medicine services across the region, which includes 21 acute care psychiatric beds in St. Helena and 61 such beds in Vallejo at the Center for Behavioral Health.
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West County Health Centers, with the help of federal stimulus dollars, has fully-licensed the Sebastopol Community Health Center and expanded its hours to 40 per week, including evening hours. A part-time family nurse practitioner and a care team coordinator were added to the staff, enabling an additional 550 patients to obtain access to primary care through an estimated 1,925 visits.
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Reach Air Medical Services in Santa Rosa announced it has hired Brian Karr as its new chief financial officer. Mr. Karr will oversee all finance, treasury, funding and accounting functions.
Previously, Mr. Karr served as the CFO of Megellan Health Services in Arizona. He was also the founding finance director of The TriZetto Group, an information technology solutions company.
Reach Air provides emergency air medical transport services throughout California as well as in Corvallis, Ore., and San Antonio, Texas.
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Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation announced recently the addition of Lillian Lao to its Sutter Medical Group of the Redwoods. Dr. Lao joins the foundation as an internal medicine hospitalist, providing inpatient care at Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa. Dr. Lao obtained her medical degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine. Sutter’s foundation has more than 240 physicians across three medical groups throughout San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and Lake counties.
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Marin General Hospital’s Cancer Institute has received a three-year accreditation with commendation from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons – the only hospital in the North Bay to receive this designation, according to the facility.
The hospital said the cancer center received a perfect score on all evaluative measures. It also said that just 25 percent of all hospitals in the U.S. and Puerto Rico earn the same recognition from the commission on cancer, but such hospitals diagnose or treat 71 percent of new cancer patients each year.
“It’s extraordinary for a community hospital to achieve this designation,” said Lee Domanico, CEO of Marin General. “But we are particularly proud of having received a perfect score across the board.”
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Submit items for this column to Dan Verel at dverel@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4257 or fax 707-521-5292.
