Tuesday is presidential primary day in Arizona, and while the candidates may all be elsewhere, The Grand Canyon State has its share of healthcare logjams. Indeed, last year the state legislature reduced the budget for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment Systems (AHCCCS) by $500 million, which subsequently meant foregoing nearly $1 billion in Medicaid matches, such that the total hit was $1.5 billion. And then there are "the 204 people" – as in Proposition 204. That essentially cuts childless adults who previously qualified for Medicaid.
Parkland Memorial Hospital has named Ronald Laxton to the position of chief implementation officer. Dr. Thomas Royer, Parkland's interim CEO, announced the move in a memo to Parkland employees. Laxton will start Wednesday. Laxton is a former chief nurse executive and CEO for Renown Health System in Reno, NV. He will report directly to the Parkland Board of Managers and to safety monitors appointed by the board. Parkland previously hired John Beall, lead surveyor with The Joint Commission, for the chief implementation officer position, but Beall resigned after five days on the job. Beall's resignation came after the hospital's Board of Managers and the consultants at Alvarez & Marsal collectively decided that Parkland would be better served by engaging a consulting expert in project management. Laxton has extensive experience in complex hospital and health system settings.
The National Quality Forum (NQF) Board of Directors announced March 1 that NQF's President and CEO Janet Corrigan has submitted her resignation, effective late June 2012. Corrigan has served as NQF's President and CEO for more than six years. Corrigan plans to spend time with family and travel abroad, before embarking on any new professional opportunities. The NQF Board of Directors has created a search committee to immediately launch a national search for a new President and CEO. John Tooker, MD, MBA, MACP, CEO Emeritus, American College of Physicians will lead the search committee.
WellPoint announced today that V. Rajamannar (Raja) Madabhushi will join the Company as Executive Vice President of its Senior business and Chief Transformation Officer. In this new role, Rajamannar will be responsible for WellPoint's Senior and International businesses, Marketing and Product Innovation, and the company's HealthyCare Solutions and Corporate Development functions. Prior to joining WellPoint, Rajamannar served as senior vice president and chief innovation and marketing officer at Humana, responsible for leading their innovation center as well as marketing, data analytics and Humana's international business. He also spent 15 years in senior-level business management and marketing roles at Citigroup.
Darwin Remboldt, 63, has announced his retirement as president/CEO of Simi Valley Hospital (SVH) effective immediately. Caroline Esparza, senior vice president for patient care at SVH, will lead day-to-day operations while an executive search is underway for Remboldt's successor. Remboldt has led the team at SVH twice, first from 1984 to 1989 and again since 2008. Previously, he was vice president of Clinic Services for Adventist Health as well as president and CEO of Adventist Medical Center–Hanford and Central Valley General Hospital in Central California. Since beginning as a student worker in 1962, Remboldt has served in a variety of roles at other Adventist Health facilities: Adventist Medical Center–Portland, Glendale Adventist Medical Center and Sonora Regional Medical Center.
Ascension Health announced Feb. 28 a change in its Ministry Market Leadership for its Gulf Coast/Florida region. Susan Davis, RN, Ed.D, Ministry Market Leader for New York/Connecticut and CEO of St. Vincent's Health Services in Bridgeport, CT, will assume the additional duties of the Ministry Market Leader for the Gulf Coast/Florida Region effective Feb. 29, 2012. Davis also will become Interim President and CEO of Sacred Heart Health System Pensacola, Fla. on March 10, as the Sacred Heart Board and Ascension Health work to identify who will fill the CEO position on a permanent basis. In addition to Sacred Heart, the Gulf Coast/Florida Region includes Providence Hospital in Mobile, AL and St. Vincent's HealthCare in Jacksonville, FL.