SANTA ROSA -- After a national search, St. Joseph Health appointed David Ziolkowski as its new chief operating officer in Sonoma County, overseeing Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals, along with a number of other outpatient and community health services.
[caption id="attachment_69103" align="alignright" width="100"] David Ziolkowski[/caption]
Mr. Ziolkowski is set to start in his new role on March 11.
“This is a unique opportunity to join a highly regarded organization with a rich history of providing quality care while maintaining mutual respect and trust between staff, providers and the community," Mr. Ziolkowski said in a statement. "As rapid change transforms the health care landscape, St. Joseph remains well-positioned to meet the current and future demands it will face in continuing to serve the community.”
Mr. Ziolkowski previously worked with the Duke University Health System. While there, he worked at one of the nation’s top academic medical centers, helping to create Duke LifePoint, a joint venture between Duke University Health System and Tennessee-based LifePoint Hospitals.
Duke LifePoint was established to acquire and manage community hospitals through providing their hospitals access to Duke’s clinical expertise and LifePoint’s operational resources. Mr. Ziolkowski managed the development and operations functions for Duke, leading to the expansion of Duke LifePoint to four hospitals and annual net revenue growth to more than $500 million.
Mr. Ziolkowski also spent several years in the Bay Area, beginning his career in health care administration in 1996 at Dignity Health, formerly Catholic Healthcare West. In 2009, he became chief operating officer of 200-bed Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo, where he helped lead physician development and alignment initiatives and served as Doctors Medical Center’s chief information technology executive.
He was at Sampson Regional Medical Center in Clinton, N.C., from 2002 to 2008 and in San Ramon at GE Healthcare from 2000 to 2002. The latter company bought out a Santa Cruz decision-support software developer he co-founded.
“David’s experience in not-for-profit healthcare operations, strategy and clinical information systems, along with his success in working with physician partners to integrate and improve patient care, will greatly benefit the people we serve and our ministry,” said Todd Salnas, president of St. Joseph Health--Sonoma County.
