CHI St. Luke's Health creates new group president role

CHI St. Luke's Health, Houston, has named Michael McBride group president of six Texas hospitals, effective Nov. 9.

In the newly created role, McBride, 50, will be responsible for strategic development at Lakeside Hospital, Patients Medical Center, Sugar Land Hospital, The Woodlands Hospital, Springwoods Village Hospital and Vintage Hospital. McBride will work with each facility's CEO to create strategic initiatives and improve operational efficiencies.

McBride comes to CHI St. Luke's from St. Mary's Medical Center, Grand Junction, Colo., where he has been president since 2010.

Keith Barber has been named CEO of Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital.

Barber, 53, was promoted from the hospital's CFO post. He replaces Beryl Ramsey, who left Methodist Willowbrook for a position with Community Health Systems, based in Franklin, Tenn.

Before joining Houston Methodist in 2012, Barber served as COO at Tomball (Texas) Regional Medical Center.

James Davidson has been named CEO of St. Mary's Regional Medical Center, Russellville, Ark., effective Nov. 1. Davidson, 54, replaces interim CEO Mike McCoy, who was appointed in July 2014 after the death of CEO Donald Frederic. McCoy will return to the medical center's COO position.

St. Mary's is part of Capella Healthcare.

Davidson is currently COO of Capella's Eastar Health System in Muskogee, Okla. He previously was COO at Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill.

Patrick Kennedy, a former congressman and member of one of the country's most famous political families, has joined the board of technology startup Quartet Health.

Kennedy, 48, began as an independent member this month. Quartet's software facilitates collaboration between medical and behavioral-health providers and uses a data engine to provide physicians with population insights.

A major advocate for access to behavioral-health services, Kennedy authored the Mental Health Parity Act in 2008, which requires insurers to provide coverage for mental-health conditions comparable to benefits provided for physical care. He recently spoke on CBS' “60 Minutes” about what he called the “Kennedy code of silence,” referring to his family's little-known suffering from alcoholism and mental illness.

He has since founded The Kennedy Forum and One Mind for Research, which work to bring policymakers, business leaders and scientific communities together to improve mental healthcare.

Medical equipment manufacturer Royal Philips has named Dr. Jan Kimpen as its first companywide CMO to support the company's focus on healthcare technology.

Kimpen, 57, will join the company Jan. 1. He most recently served as chairman of the executive board at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Kimpen, who will report to Philips CEO Frans van Houten, started at UMC Utrecht in 1997 and became president of the medical center in 2009. The organization has entered into a partnership with Philips under Kimpen's leadership.