Executive looking to expand health-care company.

Richard Russell has been appointed to the position of chief development officer at IPC-The Hospitalist Co., a North Hollywood-based healthcare provider.

Russell will direct the company's expansion efforts including the selection of new markets and the acquisition of practices.

IPC, which provides acute-care specialists to patients during hospitalization, is seeking to consolidate a larger portion of that market segment.

"The segment of the healthcare services we're in is a relatively new phenomenon in the grand scheme of things, and so the market of doctors who practice hospital medicine is pretty fragmented," said Russell. "That really creates a great opportunity."

IPC has developed technology specialized for the practice that lets doctors patient information and communicate with other physicians revolved in the patient's care in a wireless, mobile format resembling a palm pilot. It acts as a kind of mobile office for hospitalist doctors, who typically go from hospital room to hospital room rather than work out of an office.

Russell said the technology, IPC Link has helped recruit doctors because it allows them to operate more efficiently and to accelerate the time required for reimbursement.

IPC employs more than 300 physicians in nine cities and manages more than $1 billion in healthcare expenditures annually. The privately held company secured $15.5 million in a fourth round of venture capital funding in the fourth quarter of last year.

Russell, who holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, was most recently vice president of information technology and business planning for Cogent Healthcare Inc. He said plans call for expanding IPC's presence in the cities where it currently operates as well as adding new markets. IPC also hopes to develop new strategic partnerships with related companies that provide complementary services, such as critical care.

"We'll be prioritizing those (market selections) in coming months, but definitely we do want to increase our market share in existing markets," he said, "and there are definitely new markets we will be expanding to."