Sauer named CEO of Washington State Hospital Association, and other newsmakers

Cassie Sauer has been named CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association, effective in January. She replaces Scott Bond, who will retire at the end of the year after more than 30 years in the healthcare sector.

Sauer, 48, is executive VP of the association, which represents 107 hospitals and health systems. She has been with the association for 16 years and has previously served as senior VP for advocacy and government affairs.

Throughout her tenure, Sauer has focused on initiatives to expand access to healthcare through Medicaid, policies that support innovative methods of care delivery and improving care for the mentally ill.

Cindy Russo has been named president and chief administrative officer at Baystate Franklin Medical Center/Baystate Health Northern Region, Greenfield, Mass.

Russo most recently served as VP of operations for Hartford Healthcare's Central region. She joined Hartford in 2001 as director. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in healthcare administration.

Mike Bromberg, the longtime head of the Federation of American Hospitals known for his knowledge of healthcare policy and the workings of Congress, died Aug. 12. He was 78.

He was the first Washington-based leader of the organization that represents private, for-profit hospitals and which is now celebrating its 50th year. He was CEO from 1969 to 1994 and continued to serve on the board until his death. He was also chairman of the consulting company Capitol Health Group.

“Mike was a trailblazer whose career spanned the most dynamic years of policy development and growth of the American healthcare system,” current FAH CEO Chip Kahn said in a statement.

In an interview this year with Modern Healthcare, Bromberg recalled that in his first years at FAH, he spent most of his time defending the very existence of for-profit hospitals. He traveled across the country to participate in debates, and while in Washington lobbied against legislation attempting to ban such hospitals.

Lobbying and legislation have changed significantly since he was on the Hill in the 1970s. Issues are more complex and lawmakers are harder to reach because “everyone is an island,” Bromberg said then.

Bill Borne, founder of one of the country's largest home health and hospice care providers, drowned near his home in Louisiana, where widespread flooding last week was responsible for at least 13 deaths.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office confirmed that Borne, 58, accidentally drowned.

Borne, a registered nurse by training, founded Amedisys in 1982 and was the Baton Rouge-based company's CEO and chairman until stepping down in 2014.

He is credited with converting a regional post-acute care provider into a national provider of home nursing services through a series of acquisitions. The company now has a workforce of 16,000 and more than 500 sites across 45 states.

“He was a very passionate visionary,” said Amedisys CEO Paul Kusserow. “What he built was extraordinary—there are very few people who can build something from scratch into a billion-plus-dollar business.”