North Bay Business Journal

GREENBRAE — Marin General hospital, the county’s largest provider of acute-care services, has undergone rapid change in the past three years, having shifted away from Sutter Health to an independent district. But perhaps its biggest and most important challenge still lay ahead, as the 235-bed facility seeks to entirely rebuild itself in order to meet state compliance with seismic safety measures.

STANFORD and SAN RAFAEL — Stanford Hospital & Clinics announced that it has acquired CareCounsel, a San Rafael-based provider of employer-sponsored health advocacy and health care assistance services.

Jill Kinney, the founder and of Club One, Inc. and the managing director of Clubsource, began working in corporate wellness in 1979, for a Marin County cardiologist who she said decided to take a proactive approach to health, particularly executives. She was chief operating officer of Western Athletic Clubs for eight years before she started Club One.

News submitted by North Bay businesses for publication in the Business Journal

SONOMA COUNTY — The Sonoma County Medical Association recently named Jeff Sugarman as its new president, a position that he will hold for the next year. He recently shared with the Business Journal some his main priories as the new president of the SCMA, as well as his thoughts on a wide range of health care issues in Sonoma County — from access to specialty care, the new health care reform law and the increasing challenges of physicians in private practice, among others.

SANTA ROSA — Sutter Health next week faces one more key hurdle in getting its new hospital proposal passed – whether it meets certain requirements spelled out in the 1996 county Healthcare Access Agreement.

SAN RAFAEL — As Sutter Health cedes control in Marin General Hospital over this week, the Sacramento-based health giant has purchased estate for to-be-determined uses, saying that it will remain in Marin in some capacity.

SANTA ROSA — The ambitious expansion at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center cleared a construction milestone, as major structural work has been completed by both the contractor and the architect.

Health Care 2009 conference: Health Care Solutions That Work (registration form)

This space has hinted at the vexing question of government’s intrusion into the private sector. But Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger nailed it last week when he wrote:

“The struggle over health care legislation isn’t just another battle between the Democratic and Republican parties. It’s about which force is going to take the United States forward for the next generation: the public sector or the private sector.”