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.
California Medicaid
Tyler Sadwith has been appointed state Medicaid director by the California Department of Health Care Services.
He most recently worked within the department as deputy director of behavioral health. In 2020, he served as a senior consultant for Technical Assistance Collaborative. He also spent more than seven years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, first as a health insurance specialist before eventually serving as technical director for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services briefly in 2018.
The position does not require Senate confirmation, according to a news release.
College of American Pathologists
The College of American Pathologists has tapped Michael Fraser as its newest CEO.
Before accepting the position, he served as executive director for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. He is credited with helping shape public health policy across the country, according to a news release.
Fraser also served as CEO and executive vice president for the Pennsylvania Medical Society and CEO of the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs.
Aledade
The country’s largest network of independent primary care has named Joyce Sackey, M.D., the chief equity, diversity and inclusion officer and associate dean at Stanford Medicine, to its board of directors.
She was the first chief DEI officer for Stanford Medicine and currently serves on the board of trustees for Dartmouth College. Sackey, who will now also serve on the Aledade board, spent more than 13 years at Tufts University School of Medicine, six years at Harvard Medical School and nearly 20 years at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
“We are grateful to have Dr. Sackey join our board and share her expertise with us,” said Farzad Mostashari, M.D., co-founder and CEO of Aledade, in a news release. “At Aledade, we are deeply committed to advancing equity and inclusion as part of our mission and core values. With her deep experience, Dr. Sackey will help us advance our public benefit purpose to deliver better health, better care and lower costs, creating a health care system that is good for patients, practices and society.”
Aledade also appointed Peggy Chin Evans, Ph.D., as vice president of community health center performance. She is credited with partnering with health centers in similar payment models in previous roles.
> Optum Financial Services, under the UnitedHealth Group umbrella, has named former Stripe and General Motors CFO Dhivya Suryadevara as CEO.
> University of Maryland Medical System has added former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medical Officer Tiffany Wiggins, M.D., as vice president and chief health equity officer and Peggy Norton-Rosko as chief nurse executive.
> Accessia Health, a patient assistance organization helping people living with chronic health conditions, has named Bill Sarraille as compliance adviser.
> Beta Bionics, a medtech company commercializing its insulin delivery system, has appointed Jeffrey DelVerne as director of payer relations.
> Integral, a provider of privacy analytics solutions, has hired Timothy Nobles as chief commercial officer.
> Truveris, a health tech company working to reduce pharmacy spend, has selected Garrett Fienberg as chief operating officer, Gregg DiPietro as chief commercial officer and Louise Shea as chief pharmacy officer.
> Novant Health, a health system in North and South Carolina, has added Alice Pope as executive vice president and CFO.
> HCA Healthcare has named Monique Butler, M.D., as president of graduate medical education.
> AllerVie, a national network of allergy clinics, has appointed Rachel Russell as chief experience officer.
> Thyme Care, a value-based oncology management platform, has hired Jesse Waldron as its first CFO.
> Children’s Hospital Association, representing more than 200 children’s hospital systems, has named Aisha Furbach as vice president of child health quality.
> The United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit under contract with the federal government as the primary transplant system, has appointed seven members to its board of directors including former Donor Alliance CEO Sue Dunn and RVAsec founder Jake Kouns.
> AdventHealth has selected Eulanie Lashley as president and CEO for Texas Health Hospital Mansfield.
> Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., has named Jacqueline Saito, M.D., as chief quality and safety officer and vice president for medical affairs, Nathan Kupperman, M.D., as chief academic officer and chair of pediatrics and Wayne Franklin, M.D., as senior vice president.
> Spatially Health, a software-as-a-service health equity platform, has named Leigh Ann Ruggles as its newest advisory board member.
> Sutter Health, a California-based health system, has named Hollie Seeley as CEO for Sutter Medical Center.
> UF Health St. Johns in St. Augustine, Florida, has appointed Jon Cooper as chief strategy officer, according to a LinkedIn post.
> OnMed, a company focused on improving affordable care through its integrated clinical model, has hired Karthik Ganesh as CEO.
> Blue Wolf Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm specializing in healthcare, has announced David Hecht as partner.
> Baycare Health System has hired Arif Asif, M.D., as vice president and chief medical officer for Winter Haven Hospital and Winter Haven Women’s Hospital in Florida.
> Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center in Jacksonville, Florida, has appointed Tom Dragovich, M.D., Ph.D., as head of the cancer medicine division and medical oncologist-in-chief. He will also serve as medical director of the center’s clinical research programs, according to a news release.
> The CMS Innovation Center has appointed James Leckie as a health insurance specialist.
> Christianacare Union Hospital, a community hospital in Elkton, Maryland, has named Arsalan Sheikh as chief medical officer.
> Piedmont, a health system based in Atlanta, has added Mary Kane as its inaugural chief nursing informatics officer.
> Personify Health, the merged entity between Virgin Pulse and HealthComp, has hired David Slazyk as chief information officer, Kacey Rasmussen as senior vice president of health sales and Jason Herr as senior vice president of health plans.
> Bronson Battle Creek Hospital in Michigan has hired Steve Polega as vice president and chief nursing officer.
> St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, Missouri, has selected Jon Vitiello as CFO.
> Emerging Therapy Solutions, a company helping payers and self-funded employers manage risk associated with high-cost therapies, has appointed S. Lawrence Kocot to its board of directors.