Council Of Community Clinics Strengthens Leadership Team

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Council of Community Clinics (CCC), a premier consortium of primary care organizations in Southern California, today announced new appointments and a restructuring of its leadership team to support the growth and effectiveness of its 17 member community health centers and safety net partners in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties. In alignment with its newly adopted and ambitious strategic plan, CCC has hired a highly experienced health care administrator as senior vice president for external affairs, expanded the roles of three veteran executives to lead enterprise-wide functions, and filled critical leadership positions within the new Integrated Health Partners organization.

"These additions and enhancements to our executive leadership ranks ideally position the Council of Community Clinics to achieve broad-reaching and aggressive goals established in our Program of Work 2020, a comprehensive strategic framework designed to ensure we enable our members to meet the evolving healthcare needs of the most vulnerable in our communities," said Henry N. Tuttle, chief executive officer of CCC and its three subsidiary companies. "We have a dynamic and growing team in place to spearhead the transformation of our organization and strengthen our capacity to serve as a thought leader and health policy advocate in the emerging landscape of value-based health care."

CCC has named Vernita Todd, MBA, FACHE, as senior vice president for external affairs. Having previously served as CEO of Heart City Health Center and president of the Human Capital Group, Todd is charged with the development and management of state and federal patient-focused health policy, public affairs and advocacy initiatives targeting key audiences, including legislators and health centers.

"It's critically important that we maintain effective, ongoing communication with elected and appointed officials on both sides of the aisle to ensure they are well educated about how health care policymaking affects our members' patients," stated Todd. "Among our priorities is helping stakeholders at the local, state and national level understand that high quality care is available and accessible at community health centers across our region."

CCC executives Tracy Garmer, MBA, SPHR; Nicole Howard, MPH; and Sparkle Barnes, MHR, have assumed expanded responsibility for enterprise-wide functions, in addition to oversight of individual companies within the CCC portfolio. Garmer, who joined CCC in 2003, continues in her role as chief operations officer and will also serve as executive vice president for CCC. Howard, a nine-year veteran of the organization, previously served as director of programs and fund development for CCC subsidiary Community Clinics Health Network (CCHN), has now been elevated to executive vice president for CCHN and chief advancement officer for CCC, and is tasked with developing a research strategy to positively affect health outcomes. Since 2010, Barnes has served as executive vice president for Council Connections, CCC's 6,000-member strong group purchasing organization (GPO), and now takes on the added role of chief strategy officer for CCC as a whole.

Joining the leadership team is Sabra Matovsky, MBA, who was recently appointed executive vice president for Integrated Health Partners (IHP), CCC's newest subsidiary, which brings together 12 of its community health center members serving 300,000 patients in a clinically integrated primary care network with special focus on the safety net population. Also joining the IHP leadership team are Jessica Savage, MBA, director of performance improvement, and Jim Schultz, MD, MBA, FAAFP, chief medical officer. Savage, formerly performance improvement director for Brown and Toland in San Francisco, is responsible for designing, driving and evaluating an organization-wide performance improvement initiative, and Schultz, who has been CMO of Neighborhood Healthcare in Escondido since 2001 and also serves as medical director for the Council of Community Clinics and Project Access San Diego, leads clinical and medical affairs for the network.

"This year, our focus is organizational transformation—ensuring CCC is remaining at the forefront of change across the health care spectrum," added Tuttle. "Being able to seize on emerging opportunities that will improve the overall mission of CCC in serving our member community-based health centers remains core to our continued success."

About the Council of Community Clinics
The Council of Community Clinics and its subsidiaries serve as the nexus for its members and partners to transform primary care through the power of innovation and collaboration.  Our health policy, public affairs and advocacy efforts enhance the development of and recognition for our members who enrich the patient experience and improve the human condition through access to quality health care and related services for their diverse communities, with an emphasis on low-income and uninsured populations. For more information, visit www.ccc-sd.org.

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SOURCE The Council of Community Clinics

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http://www.ccc-sd.org