St. Joseph's Sonoma County executive gets promotion

<p>Kevin Klockenga, president and CEO of St. Joseph Health System-Sonoma County, has been promoted into a regional role where he will oversee the health care provider's operations across Northern California.</p><p>The move is part of a restructuring that will create three new St. Joseph regions in Northern California, Southern California and West Texas/Eastern New Mexico. </p><p>In addition to his new role as executive vice president for Northern California, Klockenga will continue to serve as president and CEO of local St. Joseph operations.</p><p>In Sonoma County, St. Joseph runs Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Petaluma Valley Hospital and a number of outpatient clinic and urgent care sites.</p><p>Klockenga will also oversee St. Joseph hospitals in Napa and Humboldt counties. Joe Mark, president and CEO of St. Joseph Health System-Humboldt County, and Walt Mickens, the new president and CEO of Queen of the Valley Medical Center, will report to Klockenga.</p><p>The restructuring is designed to improve St. Joseph's ability to “provide more integrated, innovative, high-quality care at the greatest value,” according to a statement issued Monday.</p><p>“We need our hospitals to work more closely together and more closely with our physicians and healthcare partners to be able to coordinate care in each region. To do this requires that St. Joseph Health System leverage its regional resources and provide a continuum of care that is the preferred choice for patients and payors,” Deborah Proctor, president and CEO of St. Joseph Health System, said in a statement.</p><p>Effective July 1, the three regional vice presidents will take over responsibilities that had been handled by a single chief operations officer, who oversaw hospitals, physician organizations and other health services. The three executive vice presidents will report to Proctor.</p><p>“The changes we are making will help ensure the ongoing vitality of our mission into the future, allow us to work better together to maximize our resources, and leverage our regional presence,” Klockenga said in a statement.</p>