Physician Hospitals of America names new president, and other news makers

Dr. R. Blake Curd has been named president of the Physician Hospitals of America, a Washington-based trade association for physician-owned hospitals.

Curd, 47, an orthopedic surgeon and president of the Orthopedic Institute of Sioux Falls (S.D.), was installed during the PHA's annual meeting in Phoenix last month. He replaces Paul Kerens, senior executive officer of Kansas City Orthopedic Institute in Leawood, Kan.

He also serves as a Republican member of the South Dakota State Senate.

Dr. J.P. Abenstein has been named president of the Schaumburg, Ill.-based American Society of Anesthesiologists. He succeeds Dr. Jane C.K. Fitch.

Abenstein, 59, is a consultant in the division of cardiovascular and thoracic anesthesiology and an associate professor of anesthesiology at Mayo College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn.

He also serves on the faculty of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Graduate School. Before joining the staff at Mayo, Abenstein served as an anesthesiologist in the Navy.

Margaret M. Van Bree has been named president of Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, part of Lifespan, a not-for-profit system also based in Providence. Her appointment is effective in January.

Van Bree, 55, will also be responsible for Hasbro Children's Hospital, the pediatric division of Rhode Island Hospital. She will take over for Dr. Timothy Babineau, Lifespan's CEO, who has served as president of the hospital since 2008.

Most recently, Van Bree was CEO and senior VP of St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston. She has also served as COO at several academic medical centers.

Robert Bonar has been named CEO of Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, effective Dec. 8. He will replace retiring CEO Dr. Alan Goldbloom.

Bonar, 62, is president and CEO of the Seton Family of Hospitals, Austin, Texas, as well as CEO of Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. He previously held positions at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters Health System in Norfolk, Va., and the Children's Hospital at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

Matt Hallgren has been named CFO and Kip Emenhiser has been named chief accounting officer at Press Ganey, a healthcare performance-improvement firm and patient-satisfaction measurement company. Hallgren will oversee financial strategy and analysis and Emenhiser will be responsible for accounting and budgeting.

Hallgren, 39, has been Press Ganey's VP of finance. He has more than 17 years of finance experience, including public accounting at Arthur Andersen and Deloitte. He also held positions at Boeing Co. and Heidrick & Struggles International.

Emenhiser, 40, joined the firm in December 2001 after serving as a public accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. At Press Ganey, he has been responsible for financial reporting and analysis, budgeting, accounting, accounts payable and payroll.