Nominee for Veterans Affairs' undersecretary approved, and other news makers

Dr. David Shulkin, the Obama administration's nominee for Veterans Affairs undersecretary for health, was approved last week by a voice vote of the Senate Veterans Affairs' Committee. His nomination now goes before the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Shulkin, president of the Atlantic Health System's Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center since 2010, appeared before the committee at a May 5 hearing along with LaVerne Council, President Barack Obama's nominee to be VA assistant secretary for information and technology. The committee also endorsed Council's nomination.

Council was corporate VP and chief Information officer at Johnson & Johnson from 2006 to 2011 until she started her own company, Council Advisory Services, in 2012.

Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health has named Victor Giovanetti president of its Western Group of hospitals.

Giovanetti, 51, has been COO of the publicly traded company's Eastern Group since July 2013. He'll replace Don Bivacca,effective July 3.

In his new role, Giovanetti will oversee the operations of 19 hospitals in 10 states. During his time as Eastern Group COO, he oversaw 13 hospitals in North Carolina and Virginia and led initiatives to build regional health networks throughout the company's service area.

Giovanetti also played an important role at Duke LifePoint Healthcare, the system's joint venture with Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Health System.

Before joining LifePoint, Giovanetti was president of HCA Lewis-Gale Regional Health System in Roanoke, Va.

Mike Dewerff has been named president and CEO of UnityPoint Health's Fort Dodge (Iowa) Region.

Dewerff, 47, will oversee operations in an eight-county region in north central Iowa for the West Des Moines, Iowa-based health system. He replaces Sue Thompson, who is transitioning into her new role as UnityPoint's senior VP of integration and organization.

UnityPoint operates 32 hospitals and provides services across Iowa, western Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

Thompson, 59, served as president and CEO of the Fort Dodge region for six years. She was recently appointed to an initial three-year term on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

Dr. Shawn Dufford has been named chief medical officer at Denver-based SCL Health. He replaces Dr. John Byrnes, who left the system in March 2014 to pursue a consulting career.

Dufford, 51, previously served as VP and CMO at St. Joseph Hospital, an SCL hospital in Denver, where he had worked since 2011. He started his new role last month at the system, which operates in Colorado, Kansas and Montana.

An anesthesiologist, Dufford served in a physician leadership role at Colorado Permanente Medical Group before joining St. Joseph. Before earning his medical degree, he spent nine years as a Denver-area firefighter and paramedic and also worked as a flight instructor and corporate pilot.