Keri Bolte named interim executive director of Physician Hospitals of America

At its annual meeting in San Francisco, Physician Hospitals of America named Keri Bolte as interim director for nine months to succeed Molly Sandvig, who has served as executive director since November 2005. Sandvig announced earlier that she will become chief operating officer of Joint Replacement Hospitals of America, which is looking to develop knee- and hip-replacement facilities.

Bolte, 28, has served as the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based group's member-services manager since November 2007. In that role, she also oversees a number of the group's programs, including the PHA Benchmarking Program, its compensation survey, and PHA Pulse, the group's e-magazine. She has a bachelor's degree in mass communications with an emphasis on public relations and also a master's degree in administrative studies, with an emphasis on healthcare administration.

At the association's business meeting Friday morning, Sandvig choked up as she thanked members upon her departure. She also introduced what she called a “changing of the guard” as Brett Gosney, CEO of Animas Surgical Hospital in Durango, Colo., completes his two-year term as president, and Michael Russell, an orthopedic surgeon and founding member of Texas Spine and Joint Hospital in Tyler, Texas, assumes that role. Texas Spine and Joint, along with PHA, are involved in a lawsuit against the federal government regarding measures included in this year's health reform legislation.

Russell said the group clearly has challenges ahead. He also said PHA has worked to create a “paradigm shift” in which patients and physicians have more control—a shift Russell said “is intimidating to opponents.”