Texas Health Resources names Dr. Jeffrey Canose COO, and other newsmakers

Dr. Jeffrey Canose has been named COO at Arlington-based Texas Health Resources.

Canose, an anesthesiologist, has been with THR for more than eight years. He joined in 2006 as COO of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas and later served as president and COO of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano.

Most recently, Canose, 57, oversaw the health system's southwest operations, which include hospitals and other facilities in six counties.

Canose will work closely with another top physician executive, Dr. Dan Varga, THR's CFO, to align the system's operational and clinical strategies.

Ben Spence has been named chief clinical officer at Lee Memorial Health System, a Fort Myers, Fla.-based public healthcare system.

Spence, 45, has been with Lee Memorial since 1995. He most recently served as the system's controller, overseeing acute-care reimbursement issues. Spence will take over for Mike German, 58, who retired after more than 20 years at Lee Memorial.

The system also named Patricia Duquette VP of finance. She had been controller of the system's acute-care and treasury functions. Duquette, 53, will work with Spence and manage the organization's core financial processes.

Marcel Loh has been named CEO at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., which recently became part of Providence Health & Services.

Loh, 59, previously served as a top executive within Seattle-based Swedish Health Services, which is affiliated with Providence. At Swedish, Loh was the CEO of the system's suburban hospitals and also led Swedish Health Network, a partnership between Swedish and unaffiliated hospitals in the area. All together, Loh had more than 14 years of service within Swedish Health Services.

Dr. Troy Sybert has been named chief medical officer at Capella Healthcare, a for-profit system based in Franklin, Tenn.

Sybert, 47, had been chief quality and medical information officer at Wellmont Health System, Kingsport, Tenn., since 2010. He also served as CMO at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

As CMO, Sybert will oversee Capella's quality and patient-safety initiatives as well as the company's National Physician Leadership Group, which brings together Capella's medical staff to help decide future system goals.

Sybert replaces Dr. Erik Swensson, who retired in February.

Health insurer Universal American has named Colleen Schmidt its Northeast region president.

Schmidt, 52, will oversee the company's Northeast operations, based in Syracuse, N.Y. That region includes 30,000 Medicare Advantage plan members, 20,000 people enrolled in Medicare accountable care organizations and 40,000 members in Medicaid and other plans, the company said.

Before joining Universal American, Schmidt spent 10 years with Rochester, N.Y.-based Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, most recently as VP of government programs and clinical operations. She's also a registered nurse.