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.
Better Medicare Alliance
Mary Beth Donahue, a former official at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) exec, has been named CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance.
Donahue will take over for former Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, who said earlier this year she intended to retire from the job after a six-year stint as CEO.
Donahue formerly served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton's HHS Secretary Donna Shalala. She also previously served as the vice president of advocacy at AHIP and as the executive director of the advocacy group Kidney Care Partners.
Donahue holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston College and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University’s McCourt School.
Well Health
Well Health, a patient communications company, has named John Knotwell as its new chief revenue officer.
Knotwell joins the company from Bridge, formerly a division of Instructure, where he served as general manager. He has also held the CEO role at the Utah Technology Council and senior positions at RizePoint, Workfront and inContact.
Knotwell also previously served in the Utah House of Representatives, Well Health said. In the new role, he will align Well Health around a revenue organization model and continue to scale the company's growth.
Alongside Knotwell, Well announced that Marissa Morrison has joined the company as vice president of people. In the role, she will enhance company culture, employee growth and inclusion.
Morrison joins the company with proven experience in diversity and inclusion initiatives, including serving as senior director of human resources at Foursquare and head of people at Factual.
Morrison has also worked at PwC as a senior consultant.
Arkansas Children's
Jamie Wiggins, Ph.D., will join Arkansas Children's as its chief operating officer following a nationwide search for a COO, the health system announced.
Wiggins will step into the role in August and joins Arkansas Children's from Children's Hospital of New Orleans, where he served as senior vice president, chief clinical officer and chief nursing officer.
In the new role, Wiggins will lead a new strategic vision to position Arkansas Children's as a "destination for pediatric care" in the state and region.
Trisha Montague, who has spent 10 months as interim COO at Arkansas Children's, will retire at the end of June, the health system said.
> Steve Nelson, M.D., dean of the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has been named center director of the LSU Health New Orleans/LCMC Health Cancer Center.
> On July 6, Karen Bowling, executive vice president of government affairs for the West Virginia University Health System and president and CEO of WVU Medicine’s Braxton County Memorial Hospital and Summersville Regional Medical Center, will become CEO of Princeton Community Hospital.
> Montrose Memorial Hospital has named Jeff Mengenhausen as its new CEO, effective Aug. 30.
> Vidhya Kannan was named as CEO of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of East Valley.
> Mark LePage, M.D., will become the senior vice president of medical groups and ambulatory strategy at Trinity Health.
> Outset Medical, a dialysis technology company, has named Jean-Olivier Racine as its chief technology officer.
> Encompass Health has named Barbara A. Jacobsmeyer, president of inpatient hospitals, as CEO of home health and hospice.
> The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) is welcoming Tilithia McBride as vice president of quality and Abby Kaericher as vice president of legislation and associate general counsel. Jonathan Jagoda, an FAH veteran, is being promoted to senior vice president of legislative affairs.