California Hospital Association CEO C. Duane Dauner to retire, and other news makers

C. Duane Dauner, longtime president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, is retiring at the end of 2018. A nationwide search for his replacement will begin in early January. After his successor is hired, Dauner will remain with the association as a consultant until Dec. 31, 2018. Dauner has led the California Hospital Association since 1985. The organization is one of the largest hospital associations in the nation, representing more than 400 hospitals and health systems.

Dauner provided recommendations to Congress and the Obama administration on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and has been actively involved in state-level health policy reform. In 2013, he helped launch the Hospital Quality Institute, a collaboration of California hospital associations to improve quality performance among providers. Most recently, Dauner and the CHA spearheaded and funded Proposition 52, a ballot initiative that makes it harder for lawmakers to use Medi-Cal funds for anything other than their intended purpose. The measure won in a landslide.

Oregon Health & Science University in Portland has named Mitch Wasden as the next CEO of its academic medical center, OHSU Healthcare, and executive VP of the parent institution, effective March 1. Wasden comes to OHSU from the University of Missouri Health Care, Columbia, where he was hired as COO in 2012 and the following year promoted to CEO. In Oregon, he will assume leadership from Timothy Goldfarb, who has been serving as the medical center's interim CEO since August. Wasden previously was CEO of Ochsner Medical Center, Baton Rouge, La.

Richard Fernandez will join Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton (Mass.) as president and CEO on Jan. 30. Fernandez is currently senior VP of ambulatory services at Brigham and Women's Health Care in Boston. Previously he was senior VP and COO for Boston-based Steward Health Care. At BID-Milton, Fernandez succeeds Peter Healy, who will assume the newly created position of president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

HCA Virginia tapped Zach McCluskey as the new CEO of Johnston-Willis Hospital, Richmond, effective Dec. 19. McCluskey has worked for the Nashville-based investor-owned hospital company for more than 10 years. For the past two, he was CEO at HCA's Parham Doctors' Hospital, Richmond.

Connecture CFO James Purko left the company at the end of December to pursue other opportunities. The company said Purko's departure was planned and it is seeking a replacement. Purko had been with Connecture since 2011. The Brookfield, Wis.-based company creates platforms for exchanges and online marketplaces for employers, health insurers and federal and state governments. It

works with large insurers, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates, and provides the technology behind Medicare.gov and some state health insurance exchanges.