Chief Medical Officer Hired

December 4th, 2009

We are pleased to announce that effective 1-1-2010, Dr. Charles Saldanha, has assumed the role of Chief Medical Officer of TBH.

Dr. Charles Saldanha has been an essential physician leader in TBH over the past three years. In the summer of 2007, Charles became the Chief Psychiatrist at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center.  When Charles arrived, Contra Costa Regional was facing many challenges and it was not long before Charles’s impact was felt in many positive ways by the system.

Those who know Charles well will often describe him as a understanding and compassionate leader with the type of presence that calms an acute unit and refocuses a contentious staff meeting. Charles is a dedicated doctor, a servant leader, someone who does what he asks of others and delivers what he promises.

As TBH has grown, it has become critical to increase our leadership infrastructure.  In August of 2009, we took on a COO to assist the president.  Effective January 1, 2010.  Dr. Charles Saldanha will assume the role of Chief Medical Officer for TBH.  TBH is often described as a practice without walls.  Most certainly, due to the diversity of our practice locations we have become a practice in need of an innovative physician executive.  The Chief Medical Officer will assume the oversight responsibility for medical staff quality across the company.  Charles will take an active role in recruitment and physician selection and will focus intensively in supporting our medical directors and physicians to practice to the highest standards.   Charles’ diverse practice experience combined with his supportive style make him a natural choice for Chief Medical Officer of TBH.

Over the upcoming months, we plan to gradually transition Dr. Saldanha into the role of Chief Medical Officer. He will continue at Contra Costa Medical Center, where he will be joined by Josh Niclas, MD, PhD as a Chief Psychiatrist, January 1st, 2010.

Charles trained at Duke University School of Medicine
Internship in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Completed Residency at UCSF.
Forensic Fellowship at Yale
Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF

Time off will find Charles enjoying the company of his family and friends. Charles loves time out doors and enjoys hiking, running and mountain biking. An amateur gourmet, Charles loves sharing fine food and wine with good company.

Charles Saldanha, MD

Chief Medical Officer

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Chief Operating Officer Hired

August 17th, 2009

Dr. Hayes is pleased to announce that effective 8-17-09, Miles D. Kramer, LCSW has assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer of TBH.

Miles completed an undergraduate Sociology degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1995 and a Masters of Social Work from California State University at Fresno in 1997 completing advanced study in public policy, government finance and clinical practice.  After graduation, Miles worked in children’s mental health and acute psychiatric programs until earning California Licensed Clinical Social Worker licensing in 2000. Miles led the development of Marin County Mental Health’s Mentally Ill Offender Crime Reduction Grant and programs before joining Contra Costa County Health Services in 2003.  Over the past six years, served on the operations leadership team at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center leading hospital Psychiatry, Detention Health Services, Rehabilitation Therapy, Medical Social Services and Education and Training. In addition to professional leadership experience, Miles completed the National Association of Public Hospitals Executive Leadership Fellowship in 2008.

Miles is passionate about teaching and professional development.  In addition to public service, Miles has held part time and adjunct faculty positions at Argosy and Holy Names Universities in the graduate Forensic Psychology Programs and provided private consultative training to public safety and correctional officers throughout Northern California.

Early this summer, Miles accepted a position with a private correctional health care company and announced his intention to depart from Contra Costa County.  TBH took the opportunity to invite Miles to a newly created operational leadership position instead of returning to correctional health and Miles enthusiastically accepted.

Days off find Miles hunting, fishing, riding motorcycles, attempting to play guitar and spending time with friends and family in the outdoors.  Miles married his college sweetheart in 1996 and lives with his wife and two children in West Contra Costa County.

You can contact Miles D. Kramer, LCSW via his email: miles[@]tbhcare.com (remove brackets first).

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Doctors Start at St. Helena Hospital

August 9th, 2008

We at TBH are proud of our partnership with St. Helena Hospital, part of Adventist Health, one of our newest relationships. Drs. Jon Jackson and Avi Zeff started there late last year. The following is an evaluation of their work, written by Guy C. Qvistgaard, MS, MFT, Senior Vice President, Operations.

“Dear Gary,

Now that we have passed the first trimester of TBH’s involvement at St. Helena Hospital, I wanted to give you my overall impressions of how it’s working out. Superb! Wonderful! Outstanding!

I anticipated the usual start-up challenges and have found them to be well within expectations. Communication with everyone at TBH is open, timely and constructive. The volume goals we discussed were achieved within weeks, surpassing our initially projected time lines. The best example of TBH’s excellent work that I can give is that in November and December of 2007 our ADC was between 9 and 10 patients per day in a 21 bed unit. This was frustrating for us given that we were turning patients away due to lack of physician capacity and support. Drs. Jackson and Zeff joined out team in mid-January and we experienced an immediate jump in census and finished January at 13 ADC. Once in full swing our ADCs for February and March ended at approximately 18 patients per day. St. Helena Hospital had not seen this census for many years with even more physicians on staff!

Not only are we delighted with the census increase but have received numerous anecdotal reports that there has been an enhancement in the quality of care that our patients are receiving. I attribute this to something you and I discussed early in our discussions – the doctors are physically present on the unit throughout the entire day and can thus answer questions in “real-time” and be actively involved in treatment planning and implementation.

Drs. Jackson and Zeff have brought quality, efficiency and collegiality to our institution and we are moving in the direction of providing enhanced patient care and staff support at St. Helena Hospital.

Thank you and your group for working with us.” – Guy C. Qvistgaard, MS, MFT

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Chief Hired for CCRMC

June 9th, 2007

It is with great pleasure that I announce the hiring of Charles Saldanha MD as our new Chief of Inpatient & Crisis Stabilization at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC).

Now that John George Pavilion Medical Staff is stable with the additions of Mark Chong DO (Chief), Chris Sue MD, Edward Lim MD, David Tomasini MD, John Fenton MD and Craig Beaty MD (plus our 10 weekend call doctors), TBH has now turned its attention to CCRMC.

Dr. Saldanha will report directly to the Medical Director, Akin Kolade MD, and will work to create a center of psychiatric excellence. As a Yale Fellow, UCSF residency graduate, a Harvard and Duke graduate with significant Inpatient and PES background: Dr. Saldanha is uniquely qualified to lead this TBH / CCRMC partnership.

We commence one week from today and as the enclosed schedule suggests, we have just 11 remaining shifts to fill in the first two weeks to be off to a 100% shift coverage start. 10 Full time psychiatrists will be necessary to staff the inpatient and crisis stabilization unit with around the clock physician coverage 365 days per year.

The total Medical Staff of full time MD employees at TBH will be 60 strong by mid-summer. - Gary Hayes, PhD

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Millionaire’s Tax Funds New Mental Health Service Programs

February 23rd, 2007

San Jose Business Journal article describes the Mental Health Services Act, and how companies such as Telecare Corporation and Traditions Behavioral Health are improving mental health services in California.

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