September 2009
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Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
has brought IT veteran Ed Kopetsky in as the Chief Information Officer. He brings his national reputation as an IT leader to the facility, having served in former positions at Healthlink, Centura Health and Sharp Healthcare.
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September 2009
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Tim Tarnowski has assumed his role as Chief Information Officer for UK HealthCare in Lexington, Kentucky. 
In that role, Tim is the senior executive responsible for information technology planning and management. Tim serves as the chair of the Fulcrum Methods steering committee.
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September 2009
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Greg Walton, CIO of El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California, was profiled in the September 2009 Healthcare IT News. Greg, at El Camino since 2007, discusses the challenges, projects and positioning of the hospital in the high tech Silicon Valley.
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September 2009
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Richard Stepanek has joined Child Health Corporation of America as the Vice President and Chief Information Officer. With broad experience in non-profit, for profit and military health systems, Richard will bring strong and diverse leadership skills to the CHCA organization and membership. CHCA children’s hospitals represent more than 20,000 physicians, 100,000 employees and $14 billion dollars in revenue.
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September 2009
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IT Optimizers has expanded our corporate practice in health information exchange (HIE).
Some of our current related engagements include:
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Serving as Interim Program Director/Manager for the health information exchange/clinical integration efforts at John Muir Health |
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Working with El Camino Hospital on their medical home/senior health care planning initiative.
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December 2007
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New Affiliates On Board
IT Optimizers is excited to announce the addition of two more seasoned health care professionals into our affiliate network. Mark Fehling is a former health systems CIO with extensive experience in strategic planning and operations. Kathleen Crane is a health care operations manager with extensive systems implementation experience. More details about these seasoned professionals can be found on our Executives page.
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December 2007
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CIO Search Underway at Midwestern organization
IT Optimizers is currently searching for qualified candidates to fill the top executive spot at one of our client organizations. Visit our Career Opportunities page for more details.
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December 2007
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Dennis Sato Assumes Key Role at Telecare Corporation
Mr. Sato, formerly with Salem Hospital Regional Health Services, has assumed the Chief Information Officer role at the Alameda-based mental health services provider. Telecare provides support and services to more than 50 programs in California, Texas, Nebraska, Oregon and North Carolina.
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December 2007
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Former Cogent Healthcare CIO Joins IT Optimizers Affiliates
With nearly twenty years of experience in the Southern California health care market, Mike Martinez brings our affiliate network a broad spectrum of technology and management experience. Most recently serving in the top informatics role at Cogent Healthcare, Mr. Martinez also has tenures at Children’s Hospital and Health Center, San Diego, Regency Health Services in Tustin and Saint Joseph Health System in Orange. More details about Mike can be found on our Executives page.
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December 2007
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Steve Saunders Taking On a New Challenge 
Long time IT Optimizers Client Service Executive Steve Saunders has accepted a position with the County of Los Angeles, Department of Health Services as Director of Application Systems. Steve’s role includes all application areas. In particular, Steve will oversee the electronic health record efforts for the system including LAC-USC and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. We wish Steve and wife Jacki well!
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| July 2007 |
Stanford Hospital & Clinics selects FULCRUM Series Methodologies to manage information technology life cycles. SHC is up and running, with over 100 IT-related projects loaded onto FULCRUM's electronic portfolio management platform. Read more about our partnership with Stanford Hospital & Clinics.
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| July 2007 |
Dennis Sato Named IT Executive of the Year 
The Society of Information Management has named Dennis Sato, CIO for Salem Hospital Regional Health Services, IT Executive of the Year for the state of Oregon and Southwest Washington. The honor came for Sato's work in implementing a hospital-wide clinical information system for Salem Hospital, along with his extensive community involvement. Sato's former CIO positions include El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA and for the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.
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| July 2007 |
Stanford Hospital Honored for Nursing Quality The American Nurses Credentialing Center (part of the American Nursing Association) has designated Stanford Hospital and Clinics as a "magnet facility". The "Magnet" designation recognizes health care organizations for nursing excellence, innovations in professional nursing practice and quality patient care.
Currently, 256 organizations hold the honor; only ten "magnet facilities" are located in California.
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| July 2007 |
US News & World Report Releases Hospital "Honor Roll" The magazine's 2007 hospital rankings have been published, with an honor roll of just 18 hospitals ranking a "marked breadth" of expertise. West coast facilities making the list include UCLA Medical Center (#3), UCSF Medical Center (#7 tie), University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle (#11), Stanford Hospital & Clinics (#15 tie) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (#17 tie). Click here to see the full "Honor Roll".
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| July 2007 |
IT Optimizers is working with Hill Physicians Medical Group, California's largest Independent Practice Association, to find and place IT professionals for its EMR and other information technology initiatives. Read more about our partnership with Hill Physicians Medical Group.
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| July 2007 |
Free Webinar Covers IT Vendor Selection Topics
Joseph DeLuca of IT Optimizers & Gerry Hinkley of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP are the faculty at the Hospital Association of Southern California's Educational Program September 19, 2007. Health Information Technology System Procurement Issues and Pitfalls will cover best practices to systems procurement, including business models, RFPs, licensing, negotiating and board strategies. Attendance is limited to 150 connections. More Webinar information.
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| February 2007 |
Community Medical Centers Expands IS Leadership
Jamie Franklin has moved into the role of Chief Project Management Officer for Community Medical Centers, Fresno, CA. Jamie’s first specific task: complete the economic and implementation planning for a new generation of clinical, financial, ERP and decision support systems. Jamie started in health care as a strategy and marketing executive at Children’s Hospital Central California, Fresno, CA, and previously served as that organization's CIO.
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| February 2007 |
Chinese Community Health Plan Wins NCQA Recognition
Chinese Community Health Plan received the prestigious “Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award” from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. The programs website, www.cchrchealth.org, launched in 2004, receives 56,000 visits per year. CCHP, a California licensed HMO, is specially designed to deliver culturally sensitive, bilingual health care to the San Francisco community. Read More 
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| February 2007 |
Stanford Hospital & Clinics Recruits Midwest Talent
Tim Tarnowski was appointed Executive Director, Information Technology for Stanford Hospital & Clinics, returning to the West Coast where he started his IS career. Tim believes in the power of IT driven process transformation, and is governing, through his six sigma skills, the implementation of a new comprehensive, integrated clinical system. Tim previously was the CIO of Columbus Regional Hospital, Columbus, IN.
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October 2006
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Dr. Michael van Duren Joins Sutter Connect as Chief Medical Officer
As CMO for Sutter Connect, Dr. van Duren will lead the Sutter Medical Network's affordability strategy and chair the Optimal Use of Clinical Services and Supplies Work Group. Formerly the vice president of clinical services for Hill Physicians Medical Group, he brings Sutter over a decade of experience as a managed care executive. The Sutter Connect team provides services to over 410,000 members from over 30 health care organizations, managing more than $975 million in receivables and managed care services each year.
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| August 2006 |
American Academy of Ophthalmology Appoints CIO 
Joseph Carr was appointed as the Vice President of Information Technology for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, CA. Mr. Carr was an internal candidate for the position, and has now assumed responsibility for all aspects of information systems planning, business alignment, security, operations and e-commerce. IT Optimizers® served as the exclusive search and placement agent.
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| August 2006 |
Community Medical Centers Affirms CEO
Craig Castro was appointed as the CEO of Community Medical Centers – Clovis, paving the path for CIO to CEO career progressions. Craig’s original appointment was reported in our January 2006 update.
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| August 2006 |
John Muir Health Executive Acknowledged in “30 For The Future”
 Eric Saff was acknowledged by Modern Healthcare as one of 30 people who could have a powerful impact on healthcare. Eric, the CIO of John Muir Health is passionate about his commitment to use information technology to improve patient safety, having experienced a tragic loss and several near misses in our health care system. Eric takes this perspective as a daily challenge to all around him. Through his leadership, John Muir Health has become a recognized leader in patient safety technologies.
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| August 2006 |
Chinese Community Health Plan Expands Management Team
 Deena Louie was appointed as the Director of Planning, Development and Contracting for Chinese Community Health Plan. Deena has extensive operations, business development, marketing and managed care contracting experience in the health care industry. Approximately 20,000 patients have insurance though CCHP, known for delivering culturally sensitive, bilingual care to the San Francisco community. |
| August 2006 |
HIT System Procurement Issues and Pitfalls
Joseph DeLuca, Managing Practice Director will be sharing perspectives on this topic at The Third Health Information Technology Summit, September 25-27, 2006, in Washington DC. Co-presenter Gerry Hinkley, JD, Partner, David Wright Tremaine LLP, and Joe will cover many critical topics, including performance based contracting, the role of an RFP, and contemporary legal issues.
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