North Bay Business Journal

Unemployment rates across the North Coast continued to fall, with every county improving its jobless rate over both the last month and over the year, according to figures released by the Economic Development Department.

Several North Bay restaurants and restaurateurs have been nominated as semifinalists in the James Beard Awards, a prestigious national recognition in the food and beverage industries.

In its first month since getting state approval for expansion last fall, Sacramento-based HMO Western Health Advantage said it has enrolled some 750 persons into new employer health plans across Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties.

Three North Bay hospitals received “A” grades for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group, considered the industry standard for hospital surveys. Kaiser Permanente hospitals in San Rafael and Santa Rosa and St. Joseph Health-operated Petaluma Valley Hospital each received the ranking from the Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits. …

Sound Physicians, a Tacoma-based hospitalist organization, announced an agreement to provide comprehensive hospitalist services at Sonoma Valley Hospital. …

Operation Access, a nonprofit whose mission is to mobilize a network of medical volunteers, hospitals and community health centers to provide access to surgeons for low-income and uninsured people, recently held its celebration of volunteers at Lagunitas Brewery in Petaluma. …

Partnership Health Plan of California recently honored the Petaluma Health Center for achieving 100 percent of the nonprofit, managed Medi-Cal health plans’ goals. …

Sutter Health announced the appointment of Stephen Nolte as chief executive officer of Sutter’s recently announced health plan, which is currently in development in Sacramento. …

St. Helena Hospital recently raised $1.5 million at its annual foundation gala held at Silver Oak Cellars in Oakville. …

State Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, plans to introduce legislation that would expand the powers of nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other health care workers as a means to address a shortage of primary care physicians, a problem that experts have long warned will be exacerbated by health care reform. …

NAPA — Just two years after receiving a significant funding boost from a tourism improvement district, tourism in the Napa Valley continues to see an upward trajectory, with a flurry of new events that attract visitors year-round while helping to further establish a regional brand, officials said Thursday.

PETALUMA — Redwood Community Health Coalition recently took part in a pilot project testing a mobile health application that enrolls patients in public assistance programs, a potentially pivotal development for the public health sector. The accelerating convergence of mobile technology and health care will likely open new avenues of access to underserved populations, which could in turn help states with implementing key pieces of health care reform, officials said.

Firma Design Group announced Jerry Novak, P.E., has joined its team in Novato. …

Enphase Energy, Inc. hired several new executives: Ciaran Fox, vice president of quality and reliability; Martin Rogers, vice president of customer service and support; and Steve Lapointe; vice president of human resources. Vice President of Engineering Dennis Hollenbeck retired. …

Napa Valley’s Arrow&Branch Estate Vineyard named Pamela Jessup-Carter as director of sales. …

Miljenko “Mike” Grgich was among several California winemakers represented when the Smithsonian National Museum of American History opened its first major exhibition on food history. …

Santa Rosa-based Zainer Rinehart Clarke CPAs announced the addition Dale Brown, Bob Holder and Danielle Sandoval, formerly of Brown Holder Alfaro & Co. in St. Helena. …

Tony Bartenetti has been named executive vice president at Sonoma-based Nelson, a move driven by the company’s geographic expansion. …

Mavrik North America of Santa Rosa appointed Kevin Wilkinson to oversee engineering and fabrication operations for its wine making technologies and equipment. …

DH Wine Compliance in Santa Rosa announced the addition of Milli Conover, who will lead the operational reporting department as a reporting specialist, and Alissa De La Riva as a senior compliance specialist. …

NAPA — Gaw Van Male, a Napa-based law firm that specializes in business law, estate planning and related litigation, announced it has added six attorneys as it seeks to secure its rank as one of the top firms in the North Bay.

Western Health Advantage formally filed plans with the state to be a part of Covered California, the state’s online health exchange that will go live in 2014 as part of the federal health care reform bill, the Affordable Care Act. …

On the federal level, the Obama Administration last week issued a host of new rules and details on how insurers can structure benefits and premiums beginning in 2014. …

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company announced the appointment of Travis Bethune to the position of vice president, distribution management and services leader. …

NAPA — The city and county governments of Napa today said they have begun to jointly develop an agreement to address concerns related to the city’s potential future annexation of the planned commercial and residential development known as Napa Pipe, along with the sharing of tax revenue and service responsibilities at the site.

Unemployment rates for North Bay counties were largely unchanged in October from the month before, but Sonoma County continued to lead all of California in job growth, helping the entire North Bay grow by 2.5 percent from the previous October, according to state figures released this morning.

NAPA — For the second year, a food and wine festival that boasts some of those industries’ highest-profile chefs and winemakers is aimed at attracting visitors to Napa Valley and providing an economic boost to the region during the tourism off-season.

The five-day Flavor Napa Valley festival at Silverado Resort & Spa near Napa and the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena starts today.

The political and legal challenges to federal health reform may finally be settled with the reelection of President Obama and the Supreme Court’s upholding of the Affordable Care Act, but, even with that seeming sense of finality, a host of challenges lay ahead for all levels of the industry.

ST. HELENA — Adventist Health’s St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley campus is in the midst of a $20 million upgrade that will both add capacity and bring much-needed enhancements to patient care, hospital officials said.

Eleven North Bay restaurants received the industry’s highest rating– the Michelin star — with two Napa Valley restaurants maintaining a three-star rating and nine others earning the one-star rating.

NAPA — Queen of the Valley Medical Center Foundation today announced it received an $11 million gift from the Herman family, the largest gift in the hospital’s history.

With the most recent gift, the foundation has raised $21.8 million of the $30 million capital campaign goal.

Amid an uncertain political climate in Washington, estate tax attorneys are urging clients to plan now, before a bevy of favorable rates expire at the end of this year.

NAPA — The Napa River Inn recently received approval from the City Council to add 26 new rooms and a third story to the property, which will enable the hotel to begin preliminary site work while it awaits state approval.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates across the North Bay either dropped slightly or remained the same in July from the month before, as most counties saw yearly job growth in a number of industries, according to figures from the state Economic Development Department.