Trinity Health has appointed Dr. Mark Froimson chief clinical officer, and other news makers

Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health has appointed Dr. Mark Froimson chief clinical officer and Dr. Barbara Walters the system's first chief population health officer. Both will also become executive VPs and will take over the responsibilities of Dr. P. Terrence O'Rourke, who had been chief clinical officer since 2008.

Froimson, 54 and an orthopedic surgeon, comes to Trinity after serving as president of Cleveland Clinic's Euclid (Ohio) Hospital. He has practiced medicine in the Cleveland Clinic system as well as at the Cleveland-based Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Walters, 62, most recently served as executive medical director of the Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system and chief medical officer of OneCare Vermont, an accountable care organization formed by Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Burlington, Vt.-based Fletcher Allen Health Care.

She has also worked at Carolina-Kaiser Permanente Medical Group and taught as an adjunct clinical professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.

Melissa Waddey has been named chief of staff at Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Hospitals.

Waddey, 39, started in the role last month. She was promoted after serving as VP of LifePoint's strategic resource group, where she led healthcare reform projects and worked to improve efficiency across service lines.

As chief of staff, she is responsible for leading strategic projects and initiatives and serving as a liaison among all stakeholders. She also will play a key role in implementing population-health management across LifePoint facilities.

Before working at LifePoint, Waddey spent 11 years at Nashville-based HCA in various administrative positions.

Ketul Patel has been named CEO of CHI Franciscan Health, a Tacoma, Wash.-based affiliate of not-for-profit Catholic Health Initiatives.

Patel, 43, will also become senior VP of divisional operations for the Pacific Northwest region of Englewood, Colo.-based CHI. He'll assume both roles on Feb. 23, replacing Joe Wilczek, who is retiring after 16 years of leading CHI Franciscan.

Patel is executive VP and chief strategy and operations officer at Hackensack (N.J.) University Health Network and Hackensack University Medical Center. He joined the system in 2010 and served as the lead executive for Hackensack's cancer, cardiovascular, orthopedic, neurosciences, surgery and imaging service lines.

Scott Kelly has been named executive VP of Asante, a hospital system based in Medford, Ore. Kelly, 49, continues his role as CEO at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford.

Kelly's tenure at Asante spans more than 14 years. He has served as the system's VP for planning, marketing and business development and as chief strategy and business development officer.

David Dunham is retiring as president of Mercy Medical Center in Merced, Calif.

Dunham, 67, has led the Dignity Health hospital for 10 years. Chuck Kassis, who has served as the hospital's COO for the past six years, will succeed him, effective Dec. 15. Before assuming the top post at Mercy, Dunham was president of Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg, Va., for 13 years.

He also served as president of Glynn-Brunswick Memorial Hospital, Brunswick, Ga., which is now known as the Southeast Georgia Regional Medical Center.