Berkeley Healthcare Forum

Principal Investigators

Dr. Richard Scheffler, PhD
Dr. Stephen Shortell, PhD

About

Our nation has embarked on one of the boldest social initiatives in its history: To expand health insurance coverage to nearly all Americans while simultaneously trying to reduce the rate of increase in healthcare spending. The challenge is great everywhere in the country, but especially here in California, due to our state’s large and diverse population and its sizeable number of uninsured residents.

Some social problems are so complex that they cannot be solved by any single firm, industry, sector or government agency acting alone. Instead, they require a partnership and leadership across organizations. Recognizing this, private and public sector leaders in California came together to address the challenge of developing a more affordable and cost-effective healthcare system that would contribute to improved population health for all Californians.

This was the motivation behind the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare Delivery System. The Forum includes the CEOs of six of California’s leading health systems, three health insurers and two large physician organizations, along with the California Secretary of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region IX Director and California insurance regulators. The University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health was pleased to serve as a neutral facilitator for discussions and as the analytic staff for this effort. “A New Vision for California’s Healthcare System: Integrated Care with Aligned Financial Incentives” is the result of the collective work of all involved.

This report is based on extensive analysis and careful investigation using multiple data sources (see appendices), in consultation with healthcare experts at both the state and national level. In the pages that follow, we provide a brief history and background of the state’s delivery and payment systems, along with a discussion of the healthcare affordability crisis. We then analyze how seven specific initiatives might reduce healthcare spending relative to the state’s gross domestic product, or bend the “Cost Curve,” defined in this report as the share of Gross State Product (GSP) spent on healthcare. Particular emphasis is paid to the 5% of Californians who routinely account for more than half of the state’s healthcare expenditures. We also assess two specific initiatives aimed at improving the health and healthcare of Californians, one involving increasing physical activity, the other expanding palliative care. And we lay out a vision for California’s future healthcare system that is intended to better align financial incentives and increase care integration.

This document complements Governor Brown’s “Let’s Get Healthy California” report of December, 2012. The Governor’s report established baseline indicators and target goals for assessing the health of Californians in priority areas, along with examples of initiatives. This report provides estimates of the expenditure reductions that can be achieved by pursuing some of those initiatives. To have their maximum impact, the initiatives will require sustained leadership from the healthcare delivery, public health, education, housing, labor, transportation, social services and related sectors, all working together.

The ultimate result of these efforts will be measured by improved affordability and a healthier California. While much is already happening, this report urges accelerated action. We need to reach farther and dig deeper. We all need to put our oars in the water and start rowing in the same direction to make California the healthiest state in the nation at a cost that we can afford. I hope you will engage with the ideas and analyses in this report and think hard about what you will do to move us forward.

Best wishes,

Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., MPH, MBA

Chair of the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare Delivery System
Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor
Dean, School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley

 

 

Appendices

Appendix I: Additional Tables and Figures (included in the main report)

Appendix II. California’s Delivery System Integration and Payment Systems (Methodology)

Appendix III. California Cost Curve, Health Expenditures and Premium Projections

Appendix IV. Introduction to Appendices V – XI

Appendix IX. Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants (Initiative Memorandum)

Appendix V. Global Budgets, Integrated Care Systems (Initiative Memorandum)

Appendix VI. Patient-Centered Medical Homes (Initiative Memorandum)

Appendix VII. Palliative Care (Initiative Memorandum)

Appendix VIII. Physical Activity (Initiative Memorandum)

Appendix X. Healthcare-Associated Infections (Initiative Memorandum)

Appendix XI. Preterm Births (Initiative Memorandum)

Appendix XII. Assessing California’s Healthcare Spending

Updates to the Berkeley Forum

Proposal to Use Three Initiatives to Lower Healthcare Spending and Finance Universal Health Insurance Coverage in California

Staff

Current Staff

• Stephen M. Shortell
• Richard M. Scheffler
• Ian Morrison
• Brent Fulton
• Chris Whaley
• Kati Phillips

Former Staff

• Eric Kessell
• Liora Bowers
• Clare M. Connors
• Evan Gallagher
• Sue Kim
• Tien Pham

Current Staff

Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. – Forum Chair [View CV]

Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H, MBA is the Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management and Professor of Organization Behavior at the School of Public Health and Haas School of Business at University of California-Berkeley where he also directs the Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research (CHOIR).  From 2002 to 2013 he served as Dean of the School of Public Health, and he also holds appointments in the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Research, UC San Francisco. Dr. Shortell received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, his Masters in Public Health from UCLA and his PhD in the Behavioral Sciences from the University of Chicago. A leading health care scholar, Dr. Shortell and his colleagues have received numerous awards for their research examining the performance of integrated delivery systems; the organizational factors associated with quality and outcomes of care; the development of effective hospital-physician relationships and the factors associated with the adoption of evidence-based processes for treating patients with chronic illness. He is currently conducting research on changes in physician practices overtime; on evaluation of Accountable Care Organizations; and on ACO involvement in patient activation and engagement activities. He serves on advisory boards to a  number of health care organizations and is Chair of the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare System. In 2006-2007 he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

Richard M. Scheffler – Forum Vice Chair, Executive Director [View CV]

Richard M. Scheffler is Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy at the School of Public Health and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds the Chair in Healthcare Markets and Consumer Welfare endowed by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of California. Dr. Scheffler is director of the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research. He has been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, Charles University in Prague, at the Department of Economics at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and at Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain. Dr. Scheffler has been a visiting scholar at the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, and the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences. He has been a consultant for the World Bank, the WHO, and the OECD. Professor Scheffler has been a Fulbright Scholar at Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago, Chile, and at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. He was also awarded the Chair of Excellence Award at the Carlos III University of Madrid in 2013. In 2015 Dr. Scheffler was awarded the Gold Medal for Charles University in Prague for his longstanding and continued support of international scientific and educational collaboration.

Ian Morrison, Author, Consultant, and Futurist – Forum Facilitator

Ian is a founding partner in Strategic Health Perspectives a joint venture between Harris Interactive and the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management. Ian is President Emeritus of the Institute for the Future (IFTF). Ian is the author of Leading Change in Healthcare: Building a Viable System for Today and Tomorrow (AHA Press, June 2011) and Healthcare in the New Millennium: Vision, Values and Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2002). His previous book: The Second Curve – Managing the Velocity of Change (Ballantine, 1996) was a New York Times Business Bestseller and BusinessWeek Bestseller. Ian holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in urban studies from the University of British Columbia; an M.A. in geography from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a graduate degree in urban planning from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. He is a director and current chair of the California Health Care Foundation. Ian also serves as a member of the Stakeholders Advisory Committee of the Program on Health System Improvement at Harvard University.

Brent Fulton – Forum Study Chair [View CV]

Brent D. Fulton, Ph.D, MBA, is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy, Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health at University of California, Berkeley. Brent is an Assistant Research Economist at the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare and the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research, both located in the School of Public Health. His current research areas include health reform, health insurance markets (rate review regulation, risk adjustment and reinsurance), the health workforce (task shifting and pay for performance in the U.S. and globally), mental health (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder treatments and disparities), and oral health care (disparities). Brent will be teaching the Health Policy and Management Breadth Course for the School of Public Health’s On-Campus/Online Professional Master of Public Health Degree Program. He also co-teaches Health Economics and Public Policy. Brent received his doctorate in public policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School and his MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA.

 Chris Whaley

Christopher Whaley is a second-year PhD student in Health Services and Policy Analysis at the University of California, Berkeley and is concentrating in Health Economics. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago in 2008. Prior to Berkeley, he worked as a Research Assistant at the RAND Corporation where he obtained and analyzed Medicare Part D data. He currently provides data analysis and quantitative analytics for The Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare. His primary research interests include health insurance plan design, evaluating the impacts of innovative medical technology, and hospital-insurer negotiations.

Kati Phillips

Kati N. Phillips is the program manager for the Nicholas C. Petris Center on Healthcare Markets and Consumer Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Petris team, Kati studied health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, where she graduated from a five-year program with her BS in health sciences and minor degrees in psychology and biology in May, 2013. During her time in school in Boston, Kati worked at Tufts Medical Center in the pathology labs where she gained clinical laboratory scientist experience. She also worked as a research assistant in a mobile health lab on projects testing mobile health technology geared toward fighting obesity and tracking asthma attacks in vulnerable youth. Kati has had her Health Education Specialist Certification (CHES) since November 2013. She was just awarded the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Achievement Award for staff in June, 2015 and will be starting in the masters of public health program in health policy and management at UC Berkeley this coming fall, 2015.

Former Staff

Eric Kessell, PhD

 Eric Kessell is a policy analyst at the Petris Center and is the head staffer for the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare Delivery System. He has over ten years of experience in a wide range of health-related fields, including epidemiology, health services research, clinical trials and health policy. He received a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; a MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics, and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of California-Berkeley. He completed postdoctoral training in the psychiatry department of the University of California-San Francisco. His technical skills include geographic information systems (GIS), time-series and regression analysis. He has worked with a wide range of data sources, including census data, clinical administrative records, and randomized controlled trial datasets. His research interests include the socioeconomic determinants of health, health services in safety net settings and payment reform.

Liora Bowers

Liora Bowers is the Director of Health Policy and Practice for the Berkeley Forum project, facilitated from the Berkeley School of Public Health. Liora has policy, strategy and marketing consulting experience with various healthcare organizations, including the Clinton Health Access Initiative Drug Access Team, the California Center for Connected Health Policy, LifeLong Medical Care and TrustMD. Additionally, she worked on a high-impact health reform strategy project for a large hospital system while at Deloitte Consulting and led competitive intelligence efforts at Onyx Pharmaceuticals for the launch of a multiple myeloma drug. Liora began her career in Investment Banking, where she was heavily involved in over ten successful mergers & acquisitions, financings, and restructurings for a range of middle-market companies. Liora holds an MBA with honors from the Haas School of Business and an MPH from University of California, Berkeley. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in International Economics from Georgetown University, where she played #1 singles on the women’s Division I tennis team.

Clare M. Connors

Clare Connors is a 2012 UC Berkeley MPH graduate, concentrating in health policy and management. Prior to entering the MPH program, she was a Director in the San Francisco office of Buck Consultants, a large employee benefits and actuarial consulting firm.  In that position, she advised large employers on all aspects of the design, funding and administration of their employee benefit plans.  Prior to her 10 years in benefits consulting, she spent 7 years as on the insurance carrier side as an underwriter of health, disability and stop loss coverage.  She holds a degree in economics from Oberlin College.

Evan Gallagher

Mr. Gallagher is an experienced healthcare policy analyst and consultant. He previously led research projects and delivered market strategy insights to Fortune 500 clients in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare logistics industries. He has focused his academic and policy research on the intersection of payment reform and healthcare IT. Evan holds a BA from Bowdoin College and will receive an MPP from University of California, Berkeley in May 2013.

Sue Kim

Sue Kim, PhD, MPH has been trained as a health economist and health services researcher. She has been working on evaluation of programs designed to improve the health care delivery and outcome for low income population. She has expert knowledge of health economics, health care financing, health disparities, research methodology, and statistical analysis. She led projects that examine coordinated care for Medicaid recipients with chronic illness and various research projects analyzing large national data sets, including Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data, National Survey of Children’s Health, California Health Interview Survey, and Medicaid and private health claims data. Her publications in academic journals present the results from these studies. She received her doctorate in Health Services and Policy Analysis and Masters of Public Health from University of California, Berkeley.

Tien Pham

Thanh-Tien Pham was the Forum Coordinator and Project Manager for the Berkeley Health Delivery Forum project. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she received her B.A. in Integrative Biology as well as in Sociology in 2011. Tien was the Program Coordinator and Administrative Officer at the Nicolas C. Petris Center where she handled program coordination for the center, including all aspects of research administration, conferences, and office management. She also supported the Director, managed his calendar, planned special events, managed the office, coordinated travel, compose and manage correspondence, and handle special projects.

Partners

Barry S. Arbuckle, Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer, MemorialCare Health System
Mr. Arbuckle is President and CEO of MemorialCare Health System, a leading Southern California not-for-profit integrated health care delivery system with $2.0 billion in annual revenues. Its hospitals include Long Beach Memorial, Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, Saddleback Memorial Laguna Hills and San Clemente, and Orange Coast Memorial -Fountain Valley. MemorialCare also includes active Graduate Medical Education, clinical training, research programs, retail health facilities, a Medical Foundation and philanthropic foundations with over $200 million in assets.
Under Mr. Arbuckle’s leadership, MemorialCare has experienced unprecedented growth and financial performance. Mr. Arbuckle is also Chairman of the Board of National Healthcare Services, a for-profit division of MemorialCare targeting private equity investments in health care start-up companies.
He serves on many boards of directors, including: Chair of March of Dimes-California, Officer of Integrated Healthcare Association, member of the Healthcare Leadership Council in Washington, DC., and past Chair of the California Hospital Association.

Bartley S. Asner, M.D.

Bart Asner, M.D. is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Monarch HealthCare, an IPA model medical group which he founded in 1994. Monarch is comprised of 2,300 physicians providing care to 180,000 MediCal, Commercial and Senior patients throughout Orange County, California, and is proud to have been designated a 2012 Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Under the Pioneer ACO program Monarch provides care coordination services for traditional Medicare patients. Monarch HealthCare was acquired by an affiliate of OptumHealth in November, 2011.

Dr. Asner is a past Chairman and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG), California’s largest professional organization of medical groups and IPAs. Dr. Asner is immediate past Chairman, and current member of the Board of Directors of the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), a statewide policy group that brings together the top decision makers from the major sectors of the health care industry.Dr. Asner holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and is a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his Internship and Residency in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. Board Certified in Pediatrics, Dr. Asner is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and of the American College of Physician Executives.

Dr. Asner has successfully pursued his passion to create a model for the delivery of quality, affordable health care to the patients of Orange County.

Anthony Barrueta

Anthony (Tony) Barrueta is Senior Vice President of Government Relations for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. He is responsible for guiding the development of Kaiser Permanente’s positions on public policy matters of importance to the organization and its members. As part of this role, he leads Kaiser Permanente’s advocates and public policy professionals in Oakland, Sacramento and Washington, D.C. in representing Kaiser Permanente before the state and federal executive and legislative branches of government. He is a member of Kaiser’s National Leadership Team and chairs the organization’s national Health Policy Committee.
From 2003 to 2010, Mr. Barrueta served as Vice President in Kaiser Permanente’s Government Relations Department, working on a wide variety of policy areas, including Medicare, health insurance regulation, and health care reform. From 1994 to 2003, he served first as Counsel and then Senior Counsel for Kaiser Permanente, where, in addition to providing state and federal legislative counsel, he provided legal and policy guidance to Kaiser Permanente’s pharmacy benefit management and drug purchasing leadership. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Mr. Barrueta was in private law practice in Washington, D.C., representing HMOs, pharmacy benefit management companies, and trade associations before Congress and executive agencies.
Mr. Barrueta serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, Enroll America and the East Bay Agency for Children. He is also a Trustee for the Committee for Economic Development and a member of its Policy and Impact Committee. Previously, Mr. Barrueta served for five years as general counsel to the Hispanic College Fund.

A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. Barrueta received an A.B. in History from Boston College in 1987 and his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1991. He is licensed to practice law in California and the District of Columbia.

Bruce Bodaken

Mr. Bruce G. Bodaken serves as the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Blue Shield of California. Mr. Bodaken served as the Chairman of Blue Shield of California (alternate name, California Physicians Service Inc.) and as its Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to December 2012 and also served as its President from 1994 to June 2012. He joined Blue Shield in 1994 as Chief Operating Officer. He served as Senior Vice President and Associate Chief Operating Officer of FHP International Corporation in Southern California. Mr. Bodaken has been a Director for WageWorks Inc. since November 2005. He serves on the Boards of California Business Roundtable, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the University of California, Berkeley’s Health Services Management Program. He is also a Member of the UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean’s Board of Advisors. He is a Co-author (with Robert Fritz) of The Managerial Moment of Truth, published by Simon & Schuster (Free Press) in 2006. He taught Philosophy at the college level before embarking on a career in health care. Mr. Bodaken holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University.

Patricia T. Clarey

Senior Vice President, Chief Regulatory and External Relations Officer
Chief Compliance Officer

Patricia (“Pat”) Clarey is senior vice president, chief regulatory and external relations officer of Health Net, Inc., and she also serves as the company’s chief compliance officer. Ms. Clarey is responsible for federal and state regulatory and legislative relations, internal and external communications, Health Net’s charitable foundation, and the company’s compliance activities.

From 2001 to 2003, Ms. Clarey held the position of vice president of Government Relations at Health Net, Inc. In 2003, she left the company to serve as a member of the senior leadership team that ran the successful election that brought California Governor Schwarzenegger into office. She then joined his administration as chief of staff.

Ms. Clarey returned to Health Net in 2006, and served as chief operating officer of the company’s Health Plan Division and Health Net of California prior to taking on her current role.

Ms. Clarey has more than 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She has held senior management positions at Chevron Corporation and Transamerica Corporation, and served as president of the Transamerica Foundation in San Francisco. In addition, Ms. Clarey served as deputy chief of staff to former California Governor Pete Wilson. She also held senior positions in the federal government at the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior.

Ms. Clarey received her master’s degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and her bachelor’s degree from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. She currently serves on several appointed boards and commissions, and was a Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Policy.

Health Net, Inc. is a publicly traded managed care organization that delivers managed health care services through health plans and government-sponsored managed care plans. The company is currently ranked #221 on the 2012 Fortune 500 list of corporations. Health Net’s mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. The company provides and administers health benefits to approximately 5.4 million individuals across the country through group, individual, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly referred to as “Part D”), Medicaid, Department of Defense, including TRICARE, and Veterans Affairs programs. Through its subsidiaries, Health Net also offers behavioral health, substance abuse and employee assistance programs, managed health care products related to prescription drugs, managed health care product coordination for multi-region employers, and administrative services for medical groups and self-funded benefits programs.

Lloyd H. Dean

Lloyd H. Dean is President/Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), one of the leading not-for-profit healthcare systems in the United States. In this executive management role, Mr. Dean is responsible for $11 billion in assets and the overall management, strategy and direction of CHW’s integrated health care system comprising 40 acute-care hospitals, as well as medical clinics, home health organizations, two health plans, five medical practice groups, and an estimated 55,000 employees and 10,000 physicians in California, Arizona and Nevada.

Mr. Dean has proven skills in multi-hospital system leadership, cultural integration, financial turnarounds, system operations, service quality, business development and revenue growth. When Mr. Dean joined CHW in June 2000, the organization had gone through several years of steep annual operating losses. Today, CHW is recognized as one of the top healthcare systems in the nation, with a strong balance sheet and A level credit ratings from all three major bond rating organizations. Two thirds of CHW hospitals are first or second in the markets they serve.

Mr. Dean is a passionate advocate for health reform and is nationally recognized for his leadership at the community, state and national levels. He has been deeply involved with key Congressional leaders and Administration staff in pressing for meaningful national healthcare reform. Mr. Dean has a strong personal commitment to providing excellent healthcare, especially to the underserved, and to developing services and programs that enhance CHW’s ability to deliver on its mission and values.

Previously, Mr. Dean was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Advocate Health Care, a faith-based integrated healthcare delivery system in Oak Brook, IL. During his tenure, Advocate Health Care was named one of the nation’s Top 100 Integrated Networks by Modern Healthcare magazine. Prior to Advocate Health Care, Mr. Dean was with the Upjohn Company, where he held key executive and operational management positions for the company’s Health Care Services Division including national vice president of sales and executive vice president of marketing. He received the prestigious W.E. Upjohn Award for his management and operational excellence.

In 2004, Mr. Dean was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth.

In February 2006, Mr. Dean was appointed co-chair of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Universal Healthcare Council and in August 2006 co-chair of the Healthy San Francisco (formerly San Francisco Health Access) Program Advisory Committee. Mr. Dean is also co-founder of several healthcare reform coalitions, including the national Health CEOs for Health Reform, formed in association with the New America Foundation.

Mr. Dean serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Bay Area Council, the business-sponsored, public-policy advocacy organization for the San Francisco Bay Area and is a member of the Board of Directors of Mercy Housing, Inc., a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to developing, operating and financing affordable housing.

Also, Mr. Dean serves on the Board of Directors of Wells Fargo & Company and is a member of its Board Audit & Examination Committee and Board Credit Committee.

Modern Healthcare magazine has named Mr. Dean one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008; and one of the Top 25 Minority Leaders in Healthcare for 2006, 2007 and 2008 and 2010.

Mr. Dean is the recipient of the Partners in Care 2007 Mathies Award. In 2004, the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, Inc. recognized him with its Community Service Award and in 2005, its 100 Black Men of the Bay Area Award. Most recent, Mr. Dean was awarded the 2009 MoAD Corporate Leadership Award and a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa from the University of San Francisco, CA.

Diana S. Dooley

Secretary, California Health and Human Services Agency

Secretary Diana Dooley was appointed to lead the California Health and Human Services Agency in December 2010 by Governor Jerry Brown.

Prior to leading the Agency, Ms. Dooley was President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Children’s Hospital Association, which is an advocate for the eight regional non-profit children’s hospitals in California. These hospitals provide nearly 40 percent of all inpatient hospital care for children in the state.

Dooley began her professional career as an analyst at the State Personnel Board. In 1975, she was appointed to the staff of Governor Jerry Brown for whom she served as a lobbyist, legislative director and special assistant until the end of his term in 1983. Before becoming an attorney in 1995, she owned a successful public relations and advertising agency. Dooley left her private law practice in December, 2000 to accept an appointment as General Counsel and Vice President at Children’s Hospital Central California near Fresno where she established an in-house legal services program and directed the Hospital’s advocacy, communications and governmental relations programs.

Dooley is active in civic and community affairs, having most recently served on the Board of Directors of Blood Source of Northern California and The Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno. She is also a past president of Planned Parenthood, the Visalia Chamber of Commerce and the Central California Futures Institute.

Dooley is a native of Hanford, California and graduated from Hanford High School in 1969. She received her bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fresno in 1972 and her law degree from San Joaquin College of Law in 1995. She is married to Dan Dooley and has two adult daughters.

In addition to leading the 13 departments within the Agency, Secretary Dooley chairs the California Health Benefit Exchange Board and serves or sends a delegate to represent her on the following Boards and Commissions; First 5 California, (California Children and Families), Olmstead Advisory Committee, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Advisory Committee, Child Welfare Council, Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Technology Services Board, County Medical Services Program Governing Board, State Mental Health Planning Council, California Workforce Investment Board, San Joaquin Valley Partnership, and the Strategic Growth Council.

Patrick Fry

Capping a career spanning more than two decades with Sutter Health and its not-for-profit, community-based hospitals and physician organizations, Patrick Fry assumed the position of Sutter’s President and Chief Executive Officer in June 2005.

Mr. Fry joined the Sutter organization in 1982 as an administrative resident at Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento. Over the ensuing years, he held increasingly responsible administrative positions both at the local affiliate and regional level, with responsibilities covering the breadth of Sutter Health’s services.

In 1996, after serving as regional president for Sutter Health’s affiliates in the Greater Sacramento Region, Mr. Fry became president of the organization’s eastern operations, which covered 18 counties in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. In 1999, Mr. Fry relocated his office to San Francisco, assuming leadership of Sutter Health’s Western Division, which included more than a dozen hospitals and physician organizations throughout the Greater Bay Area. From 2000-2005, he was Sutter Health’s second-in-command, serving as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President.

Mr. Fry is Past Chair (2010) of the California Hospital Association Board of Directors, and currently serves on the American Hospital Association Governing Council, American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board, and is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of VHA, Inc., a national network of more than 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals and 23,000 non-acute care provider organizations that work together to improve clinical performance and efficiency.

A native of Berwin, Illinois, Mr. Fry grew up in South Lake Tahoe, California, in a family of health care practitioners. He graduated from the University of California, Davis in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in public health administration, and earned a master’s degree in health services administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1982.

Mr. Fry is married and is the father of four sons. He and his family reside in Davis.

Jay M. Gellert

Mr. Gellert is president and chief executive officer of Health Net, Inc. He also is a member of the board of directors of Health Net, Inc. Mr. Gellert joined the company in 1996 as president and chief operating officer of one of Health Net’s predecessor companies, Health System
International, Inc. (HSI). He also served on the HSI board of directors and as chairman of the board for HSI’s principal operating subsidiaries, Health Net and QualMed.
Prior to joining Health Net, Mr. Gellert directed Shattuck Hammond Partners Inc.’s strategic advisory engagements in the area of integrated delivery systems development, managed care network formation and physician groups practice integration. From 1988 to 1991, Mr. Gellert was president and chief executive officer of Bay Pacific Health Corporation, a Northern California health maintenance organization (HMO). From 1985 to 1988, Mr. Gellert was senior vice president and chief operating officer for California Healthcare System.
Mr. Gellert serves on several boards, including America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and Ventas, Inc. He served as chairman of AHIP from June 2008 through June 2010. In addition, Mr. Gellert is a member of the board of directors of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH) and serves on the CAQH Executive Committee. Mr. Gellert holds a B.A. degree from Stanford University.

Health Net, Inc. is a publicly traded managed care organization that delivers managed health care services through health plans and government-sponsored managed care plans. The company is currently ranked #179 on the 2011 Fortune 500 list of corporations. Health Net’s mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. The company provides and administers health benefits to approximately 6.0 million individuals across the country through group, individual, Medicare (including the Medicare prescription drug benefit commonly referred to as “Part D”), Medicaid, Department of Defense, including TRICARE, and Veterans Affairs programs. Health Net’s behavioral health services subsidiary, Managed Health Network, Inc., provides behavioral health, substance abuse and employee assistance programs to approximately 5.0 million individuals, including Health Net’s own health plan members. The company’s subsidiaries also offer managed health care products related to prescription drugs, and offer managed health care product coordination for multi-region employers and administrative services for medical groups and self-funded benefits programs.

George C. Halvorson

George C. Halvorson was named chairman and chief executive officer of Kaiser Permanente, headquartered in Oakland, California, in March 2002. Kaiser Permanente is the nation’s largest nonprofit health plan and hospital system, serving more than 9 million members and generating about $50 billion in annual revenue.

George Halvorson has won several awards for his commitment to health technology and for his leadership and achievements in advancing health care quality. The development, implementation, and maintenance of Kaiser Permanente’s information technology infrastructure represent a multi-billion dollar strategic investment that provides comprehensive care coordination and continually improving quality of care and service to members.

Mr. Halvorson has written five health care reform guidebooks, including Health Care Will Not Reform Itself: A User’s Guide to Refocusing and Reforming American Health Care. In 2012, he published KP Inside: 101 Letters to Us at Kaiser Permanente, which is a compilation of letters he has written to KP employees each week since September 27, 2007.

Mr. Halvorson lends his time and expertise to a number of organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, the American Hospital Association, The Commonwealth Fund, and the New America Foundation. He serves on the boards of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, America’s Health Insurance Plans, and the Alliance of Community Health Plans. Halvorson chairs the International Federation of Health Plans and co-chaired the 2010 Institute for Healthcare Improvement Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care. In 2009, he chaired the World Economic Forum’s Health Governors meetings in Davos. In 2012, he was the social media chair for the Global Health Policy Forum and was named No. 6 on Modern Healthcare’s annual 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare list.

Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Mr. Halvorson was president and chief executive officer of HealthPartners, headquartered in Minneapolis, for nearly 18 years. With more than 30 years of health care management experience, he has also held several senior management positions with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and Health Accord International.

Richard B. Jacobs

Richard B. Jacobs, Senior Vice President for System Development and Chief Strategy Officer at Cedars-Sinai Health System, brings over 30 years of experience in the Southern California health care arena to his position at Cedars-Sinai, where he is responsible for overall system development of the Cedars-Sinai Health System and for directing Cedars-Sinai’s strategic planning, business development, managed care and payer relations, marketing, communications, client services, international health and telemedicine, and facilities planning and construction efforts.

Previously, Jacobs was President of VHA West, Inc., for more than eight years, and held executive positions with the Brighton Consulting Group of Pasadena, CA, and Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, CA.

A native Angeleno, Jacobs holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and a Master of Public Health degree from UCLA.

Dave Jones

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones was elected on November 2, 2010 and leads the California Department of Insurance (CDI), the largest consumer protection agency in the state. In his role Jones regulates California’s Insurance Industry, which makes up almost one-tenth of the California economy with annual revenues of $125 billion.

He has secured crucial victories for consumers since taking the oath of office on January 3, 2011, including:

• Saving individual health insurance policyholders more than $107 million in premiums by using existing, though limited, review authority;
• Issuing emergency regulations to require that at least 80 percent of the individual health insurance premium dollar go to actual health care, and not to insurer profits, marketing and overhead;
• Issuing regulations requiring health insurers to cover children with pre-existing conditions;
• Protecting California seniors with new laws on the sale of annuities;
• Investigating fraud, which has lead to nearly 784 arrests to date;
• Saving ratepayers $448 million for property and casualty lines of insurance;
• Obtaining insurance company investments in low and moderate income communities;
• Filing two major anti-fraud lawsuits to combat health care provider fraud, which have cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars;
• Launching multi-state investigation of life insurance companies’ failure to pay death benefits despite constructive knowledge of policyholder deaths.

Jones was named one of California’s Top 100 lawyers of 2011 by the Daily Journal, the largest legal newspaper in California.

Jones served in the California State Assembly from 2004 through 2010, where he chaired the Assembly Health Committee, the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. He was named “Consumer Champion” by the California Consumer Federation in 2008. Jones was also awarded the “Leadership Award” by the Western Center of Law and Poverty. Planned Parenthood, Environment California, the Urban League, Preschool California and CalPIRG have all honored his work. Capitol Weekly named Jones California’s “most effective legislator” along with the Assembly Speaker and the Senate President Pro Tempore. Highlights of Jones’ legislative accomplishments include more than 70 bills signed into law:

• Reforming California’s conservatorship laws, enacting sweeping protections for seniors and dependent adults facing abuse (Assembly Bill 1363 of 2006);
• Preventing HMOs and health insurers from discriminating against women by charging men and women different rates for the same health insurance policies (Assembly Bill 119 of 2009);
• First-in the-nation “green insurance” legislation allowing Californians to share their personal vehicles in car-sharing pools without invalidating their auto insurance (Assembly Bill 1871 of 2010);
• Securing billions in federal funding to improve California’s hospital health care safety net and fund children’s health care by establishing a hospital provider fee (Assembly Bill 1383 of 2009);
• Protecting private medical records from misuse (Assembly Bill 1298 of 2007) and disclosure (Assembly Bill 211 of 2008);
• Creating the nation’s largest early education and preschool program to give children the best possible start (Assembly Bill 2759 of 2008).

Jones began his career as a legal aid attorney, providing free assistance to the poor with Legal Services of Northern California from 1988 to 1995. In 1995, Jones was one of only 13 Americans awarded the prestigious White House Fellowship. He served in the Clinton Administration for three years as Special Assistant and Counsel to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Jones also served on the Sacramento City Council from 1999 to 2004.

Commissioner Jones graduated with honors from DePauw University, Harvard Law School and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He and his wife, Kim Flores, have two children, Isabelle and William, and live in Sacramento.

Pam Kehaly

President Anthem Blue Cross
Senior Vice President Medicaid
Pam Kehaly is President of Anthem Blue Cross, the largest health benefits company in California. Anthem Blue Cross offers a full range of health benefits plans as well as specialty products and services to over 8 million individuals.

Pam is also Senior Vice President of WellPoint’s Medicaid division which provides nearly 2 million individuals state-sponsored managed care alternative in eight states.
Previously, Pam was president of national accounts for Aetna. There she had responsibility for the division’s profit and loss performance, and managed sales, underwriting, account management and operation teams throughout the United States in support of the national accounts division’s 9 million members.

Pam received a BA degree in Business Administration from California State University, Stanislaus. Pam is on the board of the California Association of Health Plans, the California Chamber of Commerce, and Los Angeles Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL). Additionally, she serves on the Advisory Board for the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at USC, and is an active member of the Los Angeles Division of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and on the Board of Directors of The Wellness Community of Ventura County/Valley.

Robert Margolis

Robert Margolis, MD, has been the managing partner and CEO of HealthCare Partners since the formation of the company in 1992. Dr. Margolis was a founding partner and the managing partner of HealthCare Partners’ predecessor, California Primary Physicians Medical Group. Under Dr. Margolis’ leadership, HealthCare Partners has become a highly respected and innovative physician-owned and operated medical group, independent physician association, and management services organization.

Dr. Margolis has been on the leading edge of the managed care industry for more than 30 years. He is a much sought-after spokesperson because of his vast experience in integrated delivery systems and physician practice management.

Dr. Margolis serves on the Board of several prestigious healthcare organizations. He is one of seven board members appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and UC Regents to the Board of Directors of the new Martin Luther King, Jr., Hospital. Dr. Margolis serves as a member of the HealthCare Policy Advisory Council for Harvard Medical School and the Advisory Board of the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California. He is a Board member and immediate past Chairman of the Board of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a Board member and past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG), a Board member and immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of California Hospital Medical Center, Los Angeles and a founding Board member of the Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP). He is a member of the Executive Management School Advisory Committee of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a past member of the Catholic HealthCare West Southern California Board of Directors and its Strategic Planning Committee. Dr. Margolis is past chairman of the American Medical Group Association and a two-time past chairman of the Unified Medical Group Association.

Dr. Margolis is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. While practicing medicine, he was an active member of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a graduate of Rutgers University (high honors – Henry Rutgers Scholar), and the Duke University Medical School (AOA) and served a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.

Paul Markovich

Paul Markovich is president and CEO of Blue Shield of California, a 3.3 million member not-for-profit health plan that serves the commercial, individual and government markets in California.

Paul assumed the position of CEO on January 1, 2013, following his June 1, 2012 appointment as President of Blue Shield and a member of its board of directors. A 16-year Blue Shield veteran, Paul was previously COO, where he oversaw Health Care Services, Network Management, e-business, Marketing, Product Development, Customer Operations, and all three of Blue Shield’s business units that offer medical and specialty benefits coverage.

Prior to his stint as COO, Paul served as senior vice president of Blue Shield’s Large Group Business Unit, where he grew membership by recruiting new sales leadership and developing a large group product that added more than 150,000 members in two years. In his earlier role as head of the CalPERS Business Unit, Paul oversaw consolidation of the CalPERS HMO business, growing Blue Shield’s membership by 350,000 and revenues to $1.3 billion.

This is Paul’s second stint with Blue Shield. Leading the company’s product development unit in the late 1990’s, Paul introduced numerous ground-breaking products and services, including the first California HMO to allow self-referrals to specialists, and blueshieldca.com, which continues to serve as Blue Shield’s Internet destination for information and services.

In between his tours of duty at Blue Shield, Paul spent 2½ challenging years as an entrepreneur. In January 2000, he co-founded a consumer-driven health plan called mywayhealth and after perfectly timing his fund raising efforts to coincide with a large stock market collapse, had to fold the company in the middle of 2001. He then joined Definity Health, another consumer-driven health plan based in Minneapolis, before returning to Blue Shield.

Paul started his professional career by working as a management consultant with Booz-Allen and Hamilton in New York. He is a North Dakota native, a graduate of Colorado College (where he played Division I hockey), a Rhodes scholar, a husband, and a father of two young children. He is the Chair of the California Association of Health Plans and also serves on the board of directors of the Bay Area Council.

Michael W. Murphy

Mike Murphy is president and chief executive officer of Sharp HealthCare. Appointed to this position in 1996, his career in health care spans more than 30 years. Mr. Murphy oversees a workforce of more than 15,000 employees, 2,600 affiliated physicians and 2,100 volunteers. They provide care and service in a fully integrated not-for-profit system that includes four acute-care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, two affiliated medical groups, five urgent care centers, three skilled nursing facilities, home health, hospice, state-of-the-art outpatient facilities and a health plan.

A Southern California native, Mr. Murphy is a graduate of California State University at Long Beach and is a certified public accountant. He served as chairman of the board of the Greater San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce in 2005 and is a member of the board of directors for the State of California Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Mr. Murphy sits on the board of trustees for John Paul the Great Catholic University and is a member and supporter of several community-based health and social service organizations.

Bonnie Preston

Bonnie Preston MSPH, is an Outreach and Policy Specialist in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region IX Office of the Regional Director which serves Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the United States Associated Pacific Islands. Her office ensures that HHS maintains close contact with state, local and tribal partners and addresses the needs of communities and individuals served through federal health programs and policies in Region IX.

Bonnie has 18 years of experience in health policy, health services research, and health program development in all levels of government and the private sector. Prior to joining HHS she worked as an independent consultant assisting California to prepare for the Affordable Care Act. She was the lead researcher with the Center for Connected Health Policy on a project that produced new state legislation to increase telehealth use and expand access to care. As a consultant to the UCSF Center for Health Professions, she evaluated methods for assessing the adequacy of the health workforce for the California Healthcare Workforce Workgroup. She was Director of the Garfield Memorial Fund for the Permanente Medical Groups for six years. Her job was to develop new approaches to meeting the needs of Kaiser members with a $10 million portfolio and $2 million in new project funding each year. She launched strategic initiatives in care to the elderly, preventive services, pharmacy care, and replication of successful innovations. She was part of the design group for the Kaiser Permanente approach to research and development.

Bonnie also worked in Washington D.C. for five years as a Policy Analyst with SysteMetrics and the National Governors’ Association. There she conducted policy analyses, program evaluations and research studies for federal and state clients largely focused on the Medicaid and Medicare Programs in the areas of prospective payment, community-based long-term care, primary care and preventive services.

Prior to her stint in Washington, D.C. she developed a network of community health programs at the Department of Public Health in San Francisco, and worked on increasing the efficiency of services in community clinics and inpatient hospitals through payment and organizational reforms in Ohio and Arizona.

Bonnie was raised in California, earned her B.A. with honors from UC Berkeley and her MSPH from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has two teenage children – one in college and the other in high school. Her husband is a research scientist currently working in stem cell research at the Gladstone Institutes on the UCSF Mission Bay Campus.

Thomas M. Priselac

President and CEO, Cedars-Sinai Health System
Thomas M. Priselac is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cedars-Sinai Health System — a position he has held since January 1994.

Mr. Priselac has been associated with Cedars-Sinai since 1979. Prior to being named President and CEO, he was Executive Vice President from 1988 to 1993. Before joining Cedars-Sinai, he was on the executive staff of Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Priselac has served the health care field in various roles during his career at Cedars-Sinai. He is a past Chair of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees and also a past Chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Prior to those roles, he chaired the Hospital Association of Southern California, the California Healthcare Association, and the Association of American Medical Colleges Council of Teaching Hospitals. The holder of the Warschaw/Law Endowed Chair in Healthcare Leadership at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Mr. Priselac also serves as an adjunct professor at the UCLA School of Public Health.

A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Priselac obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, and a master’s in Public Health, Health Services Administration and Planning, from the University of Pittsburgh.

Robert D. Reed

Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Reed is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Sutter Health network of not-for-profit hospitals, physician organizations and other health care service providers that serve more than 100 communities in Northern California. Responsible for financial operations of the network, Mr. Reed oversees financial reporting, treasury, planning, analysis, managed care contracting and philanthropic development. While difficult financial challenges have led to the closure of more than 40 hospitals and the failure of numerous physician groups in Northern California in recent years, Sutter Health has instead worked diligently to preserve and enhance health care services in local communities. The organization has expanded points of access for patients and emerged as one of the nation’s leading not-for-profit health care networks.

Prior to assuming his current position in 1997, Mr. Reed served as Vice President of Finance for Sutter’s western division and Chief Financial Officer for Alta Bates Health System. He also has held senior positions with VHA, American Health Capital, Inc. and Blyth/Eastman Paine Webber.

Active in his community, Mr. Reed is a member of the following boards of directors:
– Director and Finance Committee Chair, Metta Fund – a private non-profit foundation that provides grant funding to non-profit charitable organizations to improve health in the San Francisco community
– Director and Audit Committee Chair, Ventas, Inc. – a leading health care real estate investment trust
He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rollins College.

Janice Rocco

Janice Rocco holds the position of Deputy Commissioner, Health Policy and Reform at the California Department of Insurance (CDI). Prior to joining Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones’ executive team, Rocco spent twelve years working for the California State Legislature. She served as Hannah-Beth Jackson’s Chief of Staff, then as the Senior Consultant to the Legislative Women’s Caucus and later became Assembly Member Dave Jones’ Chief of Staff. Janice has worked on a wide range of public policy issues including health care, insurance, domestic violence, early childhood education, civil rights and reproductive rights. Before working for the Legislature, Rocco worked for Planned Parenthood in Southern California and she has been involved in a number of legislative and statewide electoral campaigns. She spent twenty years serving on the state or national Board of the National Organization for Women.

Wade Rose

L. Wade Rose is Vice President of External & Government Relations for Dignity Health. Based in San Francisco, California, Dignity Health is the largest hospital provider in California and the Western U.S. The Dignity Health network of 40 hospitals, more than 10,000 physicians and approximately 60,000 employees serve a population spanning 22 million people across California, Arizona, and Nevada. Annual revenues are approximately $13 billion.

Mr. Rose is responsible for developing strategic leadership relations between Dignity Health and key external organizations and individuals.

Mr. Rose serves on the boards of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, SPUR, MoAD and the San Francisco State Foundation. He also serves as the Dignity Health representative to the Bay Area Council, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, San Francisco Committee on Jobs, the California Health Task Force, the Berkeley Health Forum, the Washington D.C. based Partnership for Quality Care and the Commission of State Care Cost Containment.

Preceding his involvement with Dignity Health, he served on the staff of Governors (Jerry) Brown and Deukmejian, and was responsible for external relations and development at the UC Irvine and USC schools of medicine.

Herb K. Schultz

Herb K. Schultz was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Regional Director at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Region IX. Region IX includes the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii, the territories of American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and Guam, as well as the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau. In this role, he serves as HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ key representative in the Region, ensuring that close contact is maintained by the federal government with state, local, tribal, and territorial governmental and external, non-governmental partners on a wide range of health and social service issues. In addition, the HHS Secretary’s 10 Regional Directors/Regional Offices work actively to address the needs of communities and individuals served through HHS programs and policies.

In addition to serving as Regional Director, Mr. Schultz serves as Chair of the Federal Regional Council, a consortium of nineteen separate federal Departments and Agencies representing thirty different program offices in Region IX. The work between these federal partners serves to make federal programs more effective and efficient and better serve the public.
Previously, Mr. Schultz was Senior Advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and since January of this year, also the Director of the California Recovery Task Force. In this role, he is responsible for the oversight and implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As Senior Advisor to the Governor from 2008-2010, he represented the Governor on major domestic policy issues, which included serving as a principal advisor on health care reform. Previously, he served as the Senior Health Policy Advisor to the Governor during California’s 2006-2008 state debate on comprehensive health care reform. From 2005-2006, he served as Vice President of Government Programs for McKesson Health Solutions, where he oversaw the company’s disease management and nurse advice programs for Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries. During the first year of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Administration, Mr. Schultz served as Acting Director of the California Employment Development Department. He also previously served as a member of former Governor Gray Davis’ Cabinet as Acting Secretary for the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. He served as the Agency’s Undersecretary before his Cabinet-Level appointment, and remained in both roles until the end of the Davis Administration. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director of External Affairs for the California Department of Managed Health Care, and served as Director of the Advisory Committee on Managed Health Care. Mr. Schultz received his BA in Political Science and International Studies from The American University in Washington, DC and has a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University, also in Washington, DC.

Jim Suennen

Associate Secretary, External Affairs
California Health and Human Services Agency

Jim Suennen was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve as Associate Secretary, External Affairs at the California Health and Human Services Agency, reporting to Secretary Diana Dooley. Previously Jim was Principal of his own consulting firm providing strategic marketing, business development and public affairs consulting services to healthcare and public sector clients. Jim has also been the Director of Business Development at SeeChange Health and held various management positions in large corporations in marketing and communications. Earlier in his career he served as a Staff Assistant to Governor Brown from 1980 – 1983. As Associate Secretary, Jim engages the Agency’s program service recipients, stakeholders, and the public at large regarding the mission, goals, and activities of the Health and Human Services Agency and its constituent boards and departments. He graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.