Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Centene
Centene President Ken Fasola will retire next summer, the insurer revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week.
Details in the filing on his retirement plans were limited, but Centene disclosed that he would leave his role as president July 1. By the end of 2024, Fasola will shift to a role as strategic adviser, which he will hold until his retirement.
Centene said Fasola will report to CEO Sarah London until his retirement.
"The Company extends its sincere gratitude and congratulations to Mr. Fasola on the success and impact of his 40-year career in healthcare," Centene said in the filing.
Abridge
AI startup Abridge has ended its search for a chief product officer, hiring Mario Queiroz to fill the role. Quieroz formerly worked at Google and at Hinge Health as a health product executive.
Queiroz comes to Abridge most recently from Hinge Health, where he was chief product officer at the leading digital musculoskeletal health clinic, a press release by Abridge said.
Prior to Hinge Health, Queiroz served as general manager and vice president of product management for Pixel smartphones at Google. He led Google’s home products, including the creation and launch of Chromecast, Google Home and Google Wifi. Chromecast and Quieroz won awards in subsequent years.
"Over the past few years, I’ve developed a deep passion for building technology to tackle healthcare challenges," Quieroz wrote on LinkedIn. "At Abridge, I have the opportunity to apply some of the most advanced AI to ease the burden of clinical documentation, one of the leading drivers of clinician burnout."
AccessHope
Fledgling cancer care benefit company AccessHope has made big shifts in its core executive team, it announced Nov. 13. The company distinguished itself as a standalone commercial business from California-based cancer and research center City of Hope in the spring.
Debra Morris will be elevated to the role of president at AccessHope after joining the company earlier this year as chief operating officer and chief financial officer.
The company hired the former president of Curai, Peter Bridges, as its chief strategy and growth officer. Bridges was formerly the chief commercial officer of Ginger (now Headspace Health). He also worked at Aon and Hewitt Associates, where he partnered with employers and health plans.
It also brought on Yousuf Zafar, M.D., a widely published practicing oncologist from Duke University, who brings expertise in value-based care and precision medicine and will assume the role of chief medical officer.
“AccessHope has experienced phenomenal growth in 2024. More and more employers and payors are seeing the value of providing unique cancer benefits that bring cutting-edge expertise from top cancer institutions and subspecialists to the places and people who need it most. Our spring 2024 spinout from City of Hope to become a standalone commercial business, coupled with our recent Series B funding, have positioned us well for the future,” said AccessHope CEO Brad Kreick in a statement.
> AARP, the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age, tapped Myechia Minter-Jordan, M.D., as its next CEO.
> Artera Health, a patient communication and engagement platform, named Adrianna Hosford as chief communications officer and head of marketing. Zach Wood was also promoted to chief product officer.
> Derek Brochu has been tapped as the chief strategy and development officer of Premise Health.
> Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego has announced Rachel Thompson, M.D., as co-director of the hospital’s Southern Family Center for Cerebral Palsy, one of the nation’s leading programs for comprehensive cerebral palsy care.
> Health Network One appointed Heyward Donigan as CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2025. Additionally, the company announced that current CEO, Luis Mosquera, will transition to the role of executive chairman of the board.
> William H Morris, M.D., former Google Cloud chief medical officer, joined AI startup Ambience Healthcare as the new CMO.
> Infinitus Systems, provider of the first AI platform specifically built to automate manual healthcare phone calls, announced the appointment of John Driscoll, senior adviser at Walgreens Boots Alliance and EQT Group, to its board of directors.
> CodaMetrix, a leading AI-powered autonomous healthcare company, has appointed Robin Lloyd as its first chief operating officer to advance the company’s ability to leverage solutions that will improve revenue cycle management, maximize provider access to clinical data and improve patient care.