Brown & Toland Physicians Names Richard Fish as Next CEO

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Brown & Toland Physicians' Board of Directors announced today that Senior Vice President Richard Fish has been named chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2011.

Mr. Fish, who joined the company in 2007, will replace current CEO Gloria Austin, who announced earlier this year that she plans to retire at the end of 2010.  

"We are pleased to name Mr. Fish our new CEO," said Neal Birnbaum, M.D., Brown & Toland's Chairman of the Board. "The Board of Directors spent many months reviewing the qualifications of, and interviewing, a number of very fine candidates.

"Ultimately, after all of the interviews, it was clear that Richard is the best candidate for the job. He brings a thorough understanding of the Northern California market, understands our network, and has the strategic vision to take Brown & Toland to the next level."

In his current role at Brown & Toland, Mr. Fish oversees a number of areas at Brown & Toland, including HMO Contracting, PPO Contracting, Information Technology, Regional Growth, Project Management, and Facilities.

He previously was a chief operating officer of Talbert Medical Group in Fountain Valley, CA, vice president at Heritage Development Organization, in Garden Grove, CA, and has more than 15 years of health care experience at other organizations such as Pacific Cardiovascular Associates/Pacific Hospitalist Associates, Talbert Medical Management Corporation, and FHP International. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural and Managerial Economics from the University of California at Davis and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington.

Fish will succeed Gloria Austin, who was named Brown & Toland's CEO in 2000. Under Austin's leadership, Brown & Toland has become one of California's leading independent practice associations, as well as one of the state's more innovative, as it was one of the first in the country to deploy an electronic health record to its physicians.  Brown & Toland also has earned numerous awards for quality over the years, and it was one of the first clinically-integrated independent practice associations in the country to offer its physicians a preferred provider organization (PPO) product.

Brown & Toland Physicians, based in San Francisco, is an independent practice association (IPA) of more than 800 physicians serving more than 330,000 HMO and PPO members. Brown & Toland has earned numerous awards for quality and in 2010 was named for the third consecutive year an "Elite" Medical Group by the California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG).  

SOURCE Brown & Toland Physicians