Legacy Health announced today leadership transitions at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center, Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, Legacy Cancer Institute and Legacy Behavioral Health. Changes will be effective Jan. 6, 2014.
Jonathan Avery, current chief administrative officer (CAO) of Legacy Salmon Creek in Vancouver, Wash., will become the new CAO of Legacy Good Samaritan. Tony Melaragno, M.D., current CAO of Legacy Good Samaritan, will become vice president for Legacy Health’s Behavioral Health and Oncology Services. Bryce Helgerson, current vice president for operations for Legacy Health, will become CAO at Legacy Salmon Creek.
“These strategic transitions will allow Legacy meet the new challenges and seize the new opportunities presented by health care transformation,” said Mike Newcomb, D.O., chief operating officer of Legacy Health. “By building out a coordinated behavioral health system, growing its commitment to lean principles and strengthening key programs like the Legacy Cancer Institute, these changes will allow Legacy to build on its mission to deliver award-winning care in the most efficient and innovative ways possible.”
Avery has led Legacy Salmon Creek as CAO prior to opening its doors in 2005. Prior to his current role, Avery has held several positions within Legacy Health since 2006, most recently acting as the Vice-President for the Legacy Clinics, a multi-specialty physician group consisting 120 physicians practicing in 22 locations.
Dr. Melaragno has been CAO of Legacy Good Samaritan since August 2007. He is well-suited as Legacy Health’s new vice president for Behavioral Health and Oncology Services as he has worked with Legacy’s cancer service line for 12 years, and chairs the Executive Committee of the OHSU Knight Legacy Health Cancer Collaborative. He also has a long-standing interest in improving behavioral health care. Dr. Melaragno’s new role will grow Legacy’s current behavior health assets by bringing them all under one umbrella as it makes plans to move its inpatient services, possibly in association with other area health systems, into its Holladay Park facility in 2015.
Helgerson has extensive leadership experience at Legacy Health as the former CAO for Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center as well as his current position overseeing system-wide facility operations, security, construction and biomedical maintenance. He also oversees housekeeping and food service on the Legacy Emanuel campus.
