California Physician Group Organization Welcomes Ten New Board Members.

LOS ANGELES -- The California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG) is pleased to announce that ten new members were recently elected to serve on their Board of Directors. CAPG represents medical groups that employ or contract with nearly 60,000 California doctors and provide care to 15 million Californians.

The CAPG board is responsible for monitoring the needs of the organization's membership, particularly in light of changes and demands in the healthcare marketplace. Part of their accountabilities also include enhancing the delivery of coordinated healthcare, working with health plans to improve benefit designs and healthcare delivery, and identifying and developing strategies to help strengthen their medical group practices.

Joining the CAPG Board are the following:

Beaver Medical Group, LLP, Redlands, CA

John D. Goodman, CPA 

John Goodman serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of EPIC Management LP, a management and consulting services firm dedicated to Southern California multi-specialty physician groups and independent practice associations. EPIC's first and largest client, Beaver Medical Group, is a highly respected, large multi-specialty group providing a broad range of services to patients living in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Beaver's long track record of clinical and financial success reflects not only the hard work of its highly qualified physician staff, but also the systems, policies and processes developed by EPIC Management. Mr. Goodman received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from California State Polytechnic University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Dennis P. Flynn, MD, MBA 

Dr. Flynn, a family medicine physician, joined Beaver Medical Group in 1989. Dr. Flynn is Chairman of Beaver Medical Group's Credentialing Committee and Chairman of NORCAL's Medical Review & Advisory Committee. His past appointments include serving as the Chief of Staff at San Bernardino Community Hospital and President of San Bernardino County Medical Society. Dr. Flynn has also served as Vice President of Medical Affairs at EPIC Management since 1997. In his current role at EPIC, he is responsible for overseeing credentialing, quality management and utilization management activities, and process improvement initiatives such as same day access. Prior to his medical management position at EPIC, Dr. Flynn practiced family medicine for 25 years. Dr. Flynn received his MD in 1972 from McGill University and completed his internship and residency at McMaster University in Canada.

Lakeside Medical Group, Inc., Glendale, CA

Francesco Federico, MD

Dr. Federico is President and Chief Executive Officer of Lakeside Community Healthcare as well as President and CEO of Lakeside Systems, Inc. (LSI), the parent company for Lakeside Community Healthcare. Dr. Federico serves on the board of LSI. He was one of the founders of Lakeside Health Services and has served as Chairman of the board, Chief Executive Officer and President since its inception in 1991. Dr. Federico is also the founder and President of Lakeside Medical Group. Dr. Federico was a practicing physician specializing in oncology/hematology for 30 years. In 2007, he left his practice to oversee Lakeside Community Healthcare's operations on a full-time basis. Dr. Federico graduated from Harvard College in 1972 and received his medical degree from Harvard School of Medicine in 1976. His post-graduate training includes an internship and residency at UCLA San Fernando Valley Medical Program.

Kerry Weiner, MD

Dr. Weiner is the President of Lakeside Community Healthcare Medical Group. Dr. Weiner has served as an Executive Vice President of Lakeside Healthcare and a board member since its inception in 1991. Dr. Weiner was one of the founders of Lakeside Health Services. In addition to his duties overseeing the medical group, Dr. Weiner has been practicing gastroenterology and internal medicine since 1983. Dr. Weiner received his medical degree from UCLA School of Medicine in 1978 and his masters in public health in 1978. His post-graduate training includes a residency at UCLA San Fernando Valley Medical Program.

Riverside Physicians Network, Riverside, CA

Howard Saner, MBA

Howard Saner is the Chief Executive Officer for Riverside Physician Network, a physician organization that is a contracted network of independent primary care and specialty physicians which has served the greater Riverside area since 1984. Mr. Saner also serves as the co-Chair for the Inland Empire Region of the California Association of Physician Groups. Mr. Saner celebrated his 20th anniversary with the healthcare industry, starting as a member service representative for FHP Healthcare. While at FHP Healthcare, he worked his way through the company's operations taking on various positions ranging from medical group operations, contract negotiations, community relations, and strategic development. After FHP Healthcare sold to PacifiCare, he followed the physicians to Talbert Medical Group where he served as Vice President of Managed Care and, eventually, as the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. Having served in various positions, he was enthusiastic to come back to Riverside and work with local physicians who have established roots in the community. Saner graduated from Long Beach City College, California State University at Long Beach, and received an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

Timothy Mackey, MD

Timothy Mackey is a pediatrician and the President of Riverside Physician Network. He is the past-Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Riverside Community Hospital. He has served as a board member of the Riverside Physician Network for the past 15 years and was a teacher of pediatric advanced life support at Riverside Community Hospital for the past 18 years. Dr. Mackey received his MD at the University of Texas.

SynerMed, Inc., Monterey Park, CA

James Mason, MBA

James Mason was appointed to the role of SynerMed president and Chief Operating Officer in January 2002. With more than 15 years of broad health care experience, Mason is responsible for the management and strategic direction of the company. During his tenure, SynerMed has grown from one client and a few hundred members to more than 450,000 members through its customer base. Prior to SynerMed, Mason served as Vice President of Operations for Comprehensive Healthcare Management which became SynerMed after a successful turnaround and reorganization. Mason has and continues to be involved with the development of Medicare and Medicaid managed care initiatives including Multi-purpose Senior Services Programs (MSSP), Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), Social HMO (SHMO) and various Medicaid managed care programs in California including County Operated Health Systems (COHS) in Orange County, Geographic Managed Care in San Diego and Sacramento and the Two Plan model in Los Angeles County, Fresno and the Inland Empire. Mason received his bachelor's degree from the University of Redlands and a master's of business administration (MBA) from Pepperdine University.

Southern California Permanente Medical Group, San Diego, CA

James G. Malone

Jim Malone is the Medical Group Administrator for Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) in San Diego. SCPMG is San Diego County's largest medical group, with 830 physicians serving nearly 500,000 Kaiser Permanente Health Plan members from 15 locations throughout the county. In his role as Medical Group Administrator, Jim oversees all of SCPMG's operations in San Diego County.

Prior to joining SCPMG, Jim was the Executive Director of Ambulatory Services for Kaiser Permanente in Ventura County. Before joining Kaiser Permanente in 2007, Jim served as Chief Executive Officer of the Buenaventura Medical Group, Inc. for more than 8 years. Previously he held executive positions with several prominent medical and pharmaceutical organizations, as well as Senior Consulting Manager with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Mark Bird MD, MBA, MSW

Dr. Bird has been an Anesthesiologist with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) since 1992. He was elected to the Board of Directors of SCPMG (1997-2008) and during that time served on the SCPMG Budget Advisory, Investment, Retirement, Revenue, Information Technology and Administrative Stipend committees. As part of his responsibilities on the board he led negotiations for physician compensation for several years. During this time he was elected as a Delegate to the California Medical Association for Very Large Group Practice where he continues to serve. Dr. Bird also represents SCPMG in Political Action and the Executive Marketing activities. In addition to his medical training Dr. Bird holds degrees in Business (MBA) from UC Irvine and Social Work (MSW) from USC.

John Muir Health, Walnut Creek/Concord, CA

Mike Kern, MD

Dr. Kern is a family physician, who currently manages quality for John Muir Health, a regional health system in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a two-year stint as an emergency physician for Kaiser Permanente, he had a private practice in Lafayette, California, for 17 years. During this time Dr. Kern became involved in various aspects of care management, eventually being named Senior Vice President & Medical Director at John Muir. Dr. Kern has been involved in many quality activities across the state of California, such as the CCHRI efforts to improve chronic care, and the Integrated Healthcare Association's Pay for Performance initiative. Dr. Kern is a member of the Steering Committee for Pay for Performance. He also has been an advisor to CHART, the California Hospital Assessment and Reporting Taskforce. Under his leadership, John Muir was one of the top performing groups in clinical quality in the initiative's first four years. Dr. Kern more recently has focused on improving care for patients with chronic illness, and children with obesity. His Transforming Chronic Care (TCC) initiative supports frail elderly patients, and serves both Network and traditional Medicare patients of John Muir. He received his bachelor's degree at Marquette University, his MD at the University of Nebraska, and completed his residency training at the University of Wisconsin, Department of Family Medicine.

About CAPG

CAPG is committed to improving health care for Californians and supports a progressive and organized system of health care delivery which focuses on coordinated treatment plans and comprehensive coverage, including the most current preventive services and exams. This allows physicians to focus on illness prevention and proactive management of patients in order to maintain their optimum level of health. www.capg.org.