title https://www.pacbiztimes.com Proudly serving Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:01:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 Greater Central Coast becomes Sutter Health’s sixth community market https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2024/01/31/greater-central-coast-becomes-sutter-healths-sixth-community-market/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:01:14 +0000 https://www.pacbiztimes.com/?p=92322 Sutter Health, a Sacramento-based nonprofit integrated health system, announced on Jan. 31 that its sixth community-based market will be the Greater Central Coast. The market will be anchored by Sansum Clinic, a 103-year-old nonprofit outpatient healthcare organization based in Santa Barbara, which officially became part of Sutter Health in October. “Our community-based markets allow us Read More →

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Sutter Health, a Sacramento-based nonprofit integrated health system, announced on Jan. 31 that its sixth community-based market will be the Greater Central Coast.

Kurt Ransohoff, Warner Thomas, other key executives, physicians and community members gathered on Sept. 29 at Sansum’s 4151 Foothill Rd. campus, celebrating the fact that Sansum Clinic is now a member of Sutter Health. (courtesy photo)

The market will be anchored by Sansum Clinic, a 103-year-old nonprofit outpatient healthcare organization based in Santa Barbara, which officially became part of Sutter Health in October.

“Our community-based markets allow us to laser-focus on delivering comprehensive, equitable care within each region, in order to make the greatest impact for the patients and communities we serve,” Warner Thomas, Sutter Health president and CEO, said in a press release.

“Expanding Sutter’s footprint, anchored by the Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara, furthers our commitment to increasing access to our high-quality healthcare and services for the Central Coast community where they live and work,” Thomas said.

Sutter’s five other markets are Greater Sacramento, Greater Central Valley, Greater East Bay, Greater San Francisco and Greater Silicon Valley.

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MB&T gives away $1.1M, Benefits 195 Orgs https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2023/11/20/mbt-gives-away-1-1m-benefits-195-orgs/ Tue, 21 Nov 2023 01:56:03 +0000 https://www.pacbiztimes.com/?p=91607 Janet Garufis, CEO and chairwoman of Montecito Bank & Trust, gathered dozens of representatives from local nonprofits and organizations to celebrate the season of giving with a bang at the 2023 Montecito Bank & Trust Community Dividends event Nov. 20. During the event, the bank announced it was donating $1.1 million to nonprofits based in Read More →

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Janet Garufis, CEO and chairwoman of Montecito Bank & Trust, gathered dozens of representatives from local nonprofits and organizations to celebrate the season of giving with a bang at the 2023 Montecito Bank & Trust Community Dividends event Nov. 20.

Molly Corbett, the CEO of Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse’s Association, accepted an award at the event.

During the event, the bank announced it was donating $1.1 million to nonprofits based in and around Santa Barbara, including organizations like MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, Channel Islands YMCA, CommUnify, Direct Relief, the Community Environmental Council and 190 others.

Garufis announced the donations at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort, where she talked about the history of the program, now in its 21st year, and shared the vision behind the program.

“You enhance the quality of life for all segments of our community, and for that we are so grateful,” Garufis said, addressing the nonprofit leaders in the event.

The bank also chose two recipients for this year’s Michael Towbes Community Impact Dividend, a special award created in 2019 to honor the late founder. Anne Towbes, his widow, presented the $50,000 awards to Children’s Resource & Referral and Livington Memorial Visiting Nurse Association.

The award will help create 30 jobs through Children’s Resource & Referral as the organization works to improve the state of childcare in the region, said Jacqui Banta, the Chief Operating Officer of Children’s Resource & Referral.

“We do not take this responsibility lightly,” Banta said.

Molly Corbett, the CEO of Livingston Memorial VNA, was a little more surprised by the award, but no less grateful for it.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this community,” Corbett said, “and I cannot wait to tell you next year all the wonderful things we did with this award.”

While there are 23 organizations that have been a part of the Community Dividends program since its inception, there were a couple of new entrants this year, including the Ventura College Foundation. CEO Anne Paul King was there to receive the award, along with board member and MBT senior portfolio manager Nicole Kreutz, and King was quick to point out how the donation would benefit students at Ventura College.

“When we get a donation, the return on that investment is massive,” King said.

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Meet the 2023 Fastest Growing Companies! https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2023/10/02/meet-the-2023-fastest-growing-companies/ Mon, 02 Oct 2023 21:57:04 +0000 https://www.pacbiztimes.com/?p=90966 The 2023 chapter of the Pacific Coast Business Times’ Fastest Growing Companies special report is here! This year, the company that’s shown the most revenue growth from 2020 to 2022 is Pashion Footwear, a company the Pacific Coast Business Times knows well. We’ve been following the story of CEO Haley Pavone since 2017, when she Read More →

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The 2023 chapter of the Pacific Coast Business Times’ Fastest Growing Companies special report is here!

The cover this year features Robert Nyman, CFO at Jordano’s.

This year, the company that’s shown the most revenue growth from 2020 to 2022 is Pashion Footwear, a company the Pacific Coast Business Times knows well. We’ve been following the story of CEO Haley Pavone since 2017, when she was accepted into the Cal Poly HotHouse Summer Accelerator program.

Since then, she’s caught our eye in other ways, including multiple mentions and honors through the Central Coast Innovation Awards. Since 2020, Pashion’s revenue has grown an impressive 423%.

We’re also taking the opportunity to recognize Jordano’s Robert Nyman as our CFO of the Year.

To create our list of the fastest-growing companies in the region, we collected the 2020, 2021 and 2022 revenue data from dozens of companies throughout the region. Those companies included both public and private ventures, and we then put together the information we gathered to determine their growth rates over two years. Like in previous years, some of the companies we included this year aren’t based here, but they have significant operations and leadership based here in the Central Coast.

This report is also the last report of this year that we’re throwing an event for. As always, we love to catch up with our community and celebrate the Central Coast and all of the businesses that help make it our home, and our last event of the year is being held at the Museum of Ventura County on October 19th, from 5-7 p.m.

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Sansum, Sutter Health finalize partnership https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2023/09/29/sansum-sutter-health-finalize-partnership/ Fri, 29 Sep 2023 23:44:30 +0000 https://www.pacbiztimes.com/?p=90950 A deal more than a decade in the making came to fruition on Sept. 29, when CEOs for both Sansum Clinic and Sutter Health announced the finalization of a partnership between the two nonprofit health care entities. Based in Santa Barbara, Sansum is now part of Sutter Health, a Sacramento-based organization that operates a network Read More →

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Ransohoff, Thomas, other key executives, physicians and community members gathered on Sept. 29 at Sansum’s 4151 Foothill Rd. campus, celebrating the fact that Sansum Clinic is now a member of Sutter Health. (courtesy photo)

A deal more than a decade in the making came to fruition on Sept. 29, when CEOs for both Sansum Clinic and Sutter Health announced the finalization of a partnership between the two nonprofit health care entities.

Based in Santa Barbara, Sansum is now part of Sutter Health, a Sacramento-based organization that operates a network of hospitals and clinics in Northern California. 

The agreement takes effect on Oct. 2, but Sansum’s integration into Sutter will happen over the next few years.

President and CEO of Sutter, Warner Thomas, declined to specify the financial details of the deal, but said “it is about a continuing reinvestment.”

“The owners of Sansum Clinic have really been the community of Santa Barbara, as represented by our volunteer board of trustees, and what will happen now is the fiduciary board of Sansum Clinic is going to be a Sutter Health Board,” Kurt Ransohoff, CEO of Sansum Clinic, said.

Thomas said that there have also been discussions to have one or two members of Sansum’s board join Sutter’s board.

“There will be a connection between the advisory board here and our own board as well,” he said.

As part of the agreement, Ransohoff will also be transitioning into a new role, though it has not been announced as of Sept. 29.

Asked about one of the more exciting things of this partnership, Ransohoff believes being affiliated with Sutter actually helps people who are looking for a job know about them.

“There is a tremendous shortage of internists and other primary care doctors in the community and that’s a significant priority,” he said.

“If (a person in health care) grew up in Santa Barbara, they may want to come back, but if they haven’t grown up in Santa Barbara, and they’re doing a fellowship or residency elsewhere, that Sutter name helps a lot in terms of just the recruiting.”

He added that “skating on thicker ice, financially,” will also be attractive to people wanting to start their career in Santa Barbara knowing “that this place will be here indefinitely.”

This move comes after Sansum announced in May that it had entered into exclusive negotiations for a possible combination with Sutter Health.

But in reality, the deal was first discussed in the mid-2000s, only to be dashed away because of the Great Recession and the difficulties it brought.

Ransohoff, Thomas, other key executives, physicians and community members gathered on Sept. 29 at Sansum’s 4151 Foothill Rd. campus, celebrating the fact that Sansum is now a member of Sutter Health.

“In 2007, we felt that being alone was very challenging and the first partner — which we could have chosen from the whole universe of systems — the first people we went to go talk to at that time was Sutter,” Ransohoff said to the crowd.

“In 2022, we decided we needed to get more serious about talking to partners and lo and behold, it felt like fate or destiny that Sutter was thinking about the world in the way that complemented the way we saw it,” he added.

“It took 50 years for our clinics to find the moment to come together but it was worth the wait.”

Santa Barbara government officials were also in attendance, including Benjamin Peterson from Senator Monique Limon’s office who presented a certificate to both Sansum and Sutter for the partnership.

“We value the legacy that Samsung has and we’re very hopeful for this new future partnership and more people who will be served by it so congratulations and thank you very much,” Peterson said.

Following the event, Thomas and other key members of both health care entities went on a tour of the newly-constructed operating rooms at Foothill Surgery Center.

Ransohoff noted that the reason for the expansion was because Sansum could not accommodate the demand for the patients it had.

“This partnership allows for those kinds of investments that would be challenging for us on our own as an independent organization. These kinds of things cost many millions of dollars,” Ransohoff said.

In a press release, Thomas said Sutter will “be making significant investments into Sansum Clinic and the community, both now and into the future so that together we can expand patient care across Santa Barbara County and the Central Coast.”

Some areas of early investment include advancements to Sansum’s ambulatory surgery center technology and services, bringing more advanced diagnostic imaging services and an imaging center dedicated to women’s health and expanding access to primary and specialty care in Santa Barbara and neighboring communities, according to the press release.

“Through strategic investment in the months and years to come and in close partnership with our aligned medical groups, we’ll continue to deliver on that promise as an integrated system,” Thomas said.

Asked about investments into attracting and retaining talent in regards to housing, Thomas said “we see the same housing issues in Northern California.

“So making sure we look into doing certain sign-on bonuses, compensation structures and other ways to help folks deal with their housing challenges is important. We haven’t talked about specifically what we would like to do here, but that is something we have to deal with,” Thomas said.

Thomas said they also want to work with and help schools grow by expanding clinical rotations so that they can train more people and educate more people and “build a pipeline” with those academic institutions.

Sansum, founded in 1921, was one of the first physician practices to convert to a nonprofit model in the 1970s. Two other pioneering nonprofits, Gould Medical Center and Palo Alto Medical Center are now part of Sutter, Ransohoff said. Coincidentally, Sutter Health was also founded in 1921.

“As health systems work to recover from the pandemic, costs – including labor, medicine and supplies – have increased sharply,” said Thomas in a press release. 

“At the same time, we have a growing Medicare population, an increasing shift to ambulatory care, and high consumer expectations around digital tools and technology. By integrating our learnings and best practices, we can better address these headwinds and grow, expand access and invest in the future of healthcare in California.”

email: jmercado@pacbiztimes.com 

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SixPoint Materials wins $50K semiconductor research https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2023/09/22/sixpoint-materials-wins-50k-semiconductor-research/ Fri, 22 Sep 2023 20:14:06 +0000 https://www.pacbiztimes.com/?p=90872 This article is only available to Business Times subscribers Subscribers: LOG IN or REGISTER for complete digital access. Not a Subscriber? SUBSCRIBE for full access to our weekly newspaper, online edition and Book of Lists. Check the STATUS of your Subscription Account.

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Santa Barbara Airport welcomes back Delta flights https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2023/09/18/santa-barbara-airport-welcomes-back-delta-flights/ Mon, 18 Sep 2023 16:46:00 +0000 https://www.pacbiztimes.com/?p=90817 This article is only available to Business Times subscribers Subscribers: LOG IN or REGISTER for complete digital access. Not a Subscriber? SUBSCRIBE for full access to our weekly newspaper, online edition and Book of Lists. Check the STATUS of your Subscription Account.

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DOJ, health care orgs reach $68M settlement https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2023/06/29/doj-health-care-orgs-reach-68m-settlement/ Thu, 29 Jun 2023 22:38:45 +0000 https://www.pacbiztimes.com/?p=89690 The Department of Justice announced June 29 that three major health care providers and a Medi-Cal health plan on the Central Coast will pay $68 million to settle claims they submitted false information related to Medi-Cal and Medicaid reimbursements from 2014 to 2016. The Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Regional Health Authority, better known as Read More →

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The Department of Justice announced June 29 that three major health care providers and a Medi-Cal health plan on the Central Coast will pay $68 million to settle claims they submitted false information related to Medi-Cal and Medicaid reimbursements from 2014 to 2016.

CenCal Health provides health care coverage for more than 200,000 people in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. (Brooke Holland photo)

The Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Regional Health Authority, better known as CenCal Health, Cottage Health System, Sansum Clinic and Community Health Centers of the Central Coast were all named in the press release. The organizations have agreed to pay a total of $68 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and the California False Claims Act by submitting or causing the submission of false claims to Medi-Cal related to Medicaid Adult Expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

The release said the four organizations did not admit to wrongdoing in making the settlements; the claims were civil and no criminal wrongdoing was alleged.

The four settlements, according to the release, resolve allegations that the organizations involved knowingly submitted or caused the submission of false claims between 2014 and 2016. CenCal will pay $49.5 million to the United States, Cottage Health will pay $9 million, Sansum Clinic will pay $4.5 million, and CHC will pay $3.15 million. Additionally, California will get $1.85 million, but it wasn’t immediately clear which organizations were paying what to the state.

“These historic settlements demonstrate our steadfast efforts to eradicate fraud involving Medicaid Adult Expansion,” said U. S. Attorney Martin Estrada in the press release. “Health care systems and providers are on notice that the False Claims Act provides us with a powerful tool to ensure that taxpayer-funded health care programs are used for patient care, and not for furtive financial gain.”

In a separate statement, CenCal said that while it “disagrees with the government’s position” it agreed to “settle and put this matter behind us.”  CenCal said that all of the disputed payments were used to provide services to patients who were eligible under Medi-Cal.

The DOJ’s press statement also noted that several other health care organizations in the region have also settled similar allegations with the United States, including Dignity Health, Twin Cities Community Hospital and Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center.

“Medi-Cal is a lifeline that provides access to free or affordable healthcare services for millions of Californians and their families,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in the same statement. “When any healthcare provider or agency defrauds the program, they break the public’s trust and put their own bottom line before the patients who count on them for honest, quality care and services. I am grateful to the USDOJ for its extensive efforts throughout the course of this investigation. The California Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners will continue to hold accountable those who defraud the Medi-Cal program, and protect those it serves.”

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