North Bay Business Journal

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.

Value-Based Purchasing is a Medicare program started in January that seeks to hold hospitals accountable for the care they provide.

Last year, Medicare rolled out penalties for hospitals that have too many returning patients within a month.

This chart shows the effect of the two programs combined.

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. …

Todd Salnas was appointed president of St. Joseph Health, Sonoma County in July 2012, overseeing operations for Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals, as well as a variety of non-acute care services throughout the county. Mr. Salnas, 39, joined St. Joseph Health in 2009 and previously served as executive vice president and chief operating officer for Sonoma County.

Now that Western Health Advantage formally announced its expansion into the North Bay, existing care providers said the arrival of a new health plan is an important step in providing choice for employers and consumers and will help those involved move toward a more integrated model of care.

It also caps off years of planning among the region’s hospitals and independent physicians, who collectively sought collaborations amid an increasingly competitive, consolidating health care landscape spurred by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Western Health Advantage formally announced its plan to expand into the North Bay, adding Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties to its roster with hopes of offering a commercial health plan for employers and individuals by Jan. 1.

The Sacramento-based HMO in June only listed Sonoma and Marin counties for expansion, but it later included Napa County.

Western Health Advantage has filed for an expansion of its business into Marin and Sonoma counties, where it hopes to partner with the Marin-Sonoma IPA and much of the region’s hospitals in offering a new health plan for employers and individuals

In an effort to gauge how the region’s major employers are dealing with continued economic uncertainty, the North Bay Business Journal reached out to major companies with a series of employment-related questions, in addition to identifying the top human resources professional at each organization.

The results, from tech to health care, to hospitality to manufacturing, show that many of the major players are faring better, some even thriving, but challenges nonetheless remain.

Petaluma Valley Hospital, operated by St. Joseph Health, received a one-day strike notice from the California Nurses Association for June 13, part of a wider strike to be held that day primarily at Sutter Health–affiliated hospitals throughout the North Bay and state.

St. Joseph Health System, which owns and operates Santa Rosa Memorial, Queen of the Valley and Petaluma Valley hospitals in the North Bay, is officially dropping “system” from its formal name, which is now just St. Joseph Health.

SANTA ROSA — A class-action lawsuit has been filed against St. Joseph Health System, which operates Santa Rosa Memorial, Petaluma Valley and Queen of the Valley hospitals, for allowing private patient data to be searchable online for 31,800 patients across the system’s California hospitals, including about 10,000 patients locally.

NorthBay Healthcare has joined the network of Minnesota-based UnitedHealthCare, which will enable some 11,000 Solano County residents to be treated at NorthBay’s two hospitals and various clinics , the two companies announced.

SONOMA COUNTY — St. Joseph Health System announced that seven physicians recently joined the Annadel Medical Group in Sonoma County, bringing the total number of physicians in the foundation that contract with Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals to 43.

SONOMA COUNTY — Marin-Sonoma IPA has joined with Health Net to provide Medicare plans for Sonoma County seniors in the wake of a coverage agreement between Sutter Health and UnitedHealthcare.

PETALUMA — Petaluma Valley Hospital is among nine greater Bay Area hospitals and one of 405 national hospitals to be named a top performer on key clinical measures by The Joint Commission, the national accreditation organization of acute care hospitals and health care organizations.

SANTA ROSA — St. Joseph Health System–Sonoma County will hold a forum on the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and how it impacts consumers.

SANTA ROSA — The foundation of St. Joseph Health System, which operates Santa Rosa Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals, has awarded five local nonprofits more than $300,000.

PETALUMA — Annadel Medical Group, which contracts exclusively with St. Joseph Health System-operated facilities throughout Sonoma County, announced the addition of two new primary care physicians in Petaluma.

NORTH BAY — A leading Marin County doctors’ association is heading an effort to create a potentially powerful network of hundreds of North Bay physicians that, if successful, would significantly alter the region’s health care landscape.

SANTA ROSA – Redwood Regional Medical Group has purchased a new 128-slice, low-dose CT scanner, the first of its kind in the North Bay.