Board of Directors

The Board of Directors supports the work of CCCC and provides leadership and strategic governance to the organization. This includes actively participating in strategic planning and major business decisions, overseeing CCCC’s financial operations, acting in the best interest of the organization and its mission, and promoting the organization’s sustainability.

CHAIR

Robert Moore, MD, MPH

Chief Medical Officer
Partnership Healthplan of California

Robert Moore is the chief medical officer of Partnership HealthPlan (PHC), a well-respected Medi-Cal Managed Care plan, serving 14 Northern California counties. Prior to joining PHC, Dr. Moore was the medical director of Community Health Clinic OLE, an FQHC in Napa County, for 13 years, where he continues to see patients one evening each week. His major professional interests are quality improvement, operational effectiveness, and delivery system transformation. He is a graduate of UCSF Medical School and the Columbia University School of Public Health. Dr. Moore completed post-graduate courses and fellowships in health center management, health care leadership, and quality improvement. His clinical interests include palliative care, intensive outpatient care management, hospital medicine, diabetes care, and pediatrics. 

 

VICE CHAIR

Kimberly Bower, MD, FAAHPM, HMDC

Medical Director, Promise Health Plan
Blue Shield of California

Kimberly Bower is the medical director, Promise Health Plan, at Blue Shield of California. After earning her medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, she completed her family medicine residency training at Brown University / Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island in Pawtucket, RI. In 2004, she began a fellowship in Hospice & Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice & the Institute for Palliative Medicine (SDHIPM). She stayed on for a second year, serving as chief fellow, with a focus on building skills in pediatric palliative medicine and working on international initiatives. In 2006, she became the medical director for the pediatric programs at SDHIPM and also served as core faculty within the palliative medicine fellowship program, designing the pediatric track within the fellowship and the pediatric curriculum for the adult palliative medicine fellows. Dr. Bower believes in medical care that allows patients to live life to the fullest and is provided with kindness, compassion and respect for the values of patients and their families.

 

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR

Carol Wanke

Vice President, Managed Care Operations
Sharp HealthCare

Carol Wanke is the vice president for managed care operations for Sharp HealthCare, based in San Diego, where she has worked for more than 30 years. In her current role, Carol is responsible for the management of receivables for hospital based skilled nursing, home health and hospice entities. She also is responsible for foundation clinic receivables. Sharp Health Care manages approximately 400,000 managed care lives and current role includes operational management of claims and enrollment processes.

 

SECRETARY

James Mittelberger, MD, MPH, HMD-C, FAAHPM

Chief Executive Officer/Chief Medical Officer
Centers for Elder Independence

James Mittelberger is a nationally recognized physician leader who has dedicated his 30+ year career to the care of vulnerable patients across the continuum of care from hospital to home. His roles have included medical director of the Over 60's Clinic; 20 years as chief of the Division of Geriatrics at Highland Hospital in Oakland; and a decade building innovative geriatric, palliative care, and hospice programs for UnitedHealth Group and Optum. Prior to joining CEI's leadership team in 2019 he was the chief medical officer for UCSF's affiliate hospice, Hospice by the Bay. Dr. Mittelberger has served in numerous community leadership roles to improve health care. He is a clinical professor of medicine at UCSF School of Medicine and is board certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Mittelberger completed his MD at University of California San Diego, MPH and Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Washington, additional fellowship training at UCSF and the Bureau of Health Professions, and a California Health Care Foundation Leadership fellowship.

 

Jennifer Moore Ballentine, MA

Chief Executive Officer
Coalition for Compassionate Care of California

Jennifer Moore Ballentine is CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. She is an educator, consultant, and advocate with more than 20 years’ experience and expertise in palliative care and hospice, adult education, healthcare ethics and policy. She is the former Executive Director of the California State University Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care and previously held leadership roles for Life Quality Institute, The Denver Hospice, and the Colorado Center for Hospice and Palliative Care. 

 

Tao Le, MD

Regional Medical Director
Health Net of California

Tao Le is the regional medical director for Health Net of California for Los Angeles and Orange County since 1999. Prior to joining Health Net, Dr. Le served as medical director for Med-Partners, a large national physician practice management company where he managed four staff-model medical groups and two Independent Practice Associations. His previous clinical and medical management leadership positions included medical director at Friendly Hills Health Care Network, Family Practice Department chairman and chief of staff at CIGNA Medical Group. 

 

 

Photo coming soon

Elizabeth M. Mahler, MD

Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer, Value Based Care
John Muir Health

Elizabeth Mahler is a board certified internist-hospitalist and physician executive. Formerly she was the vice president of patient health management at Sutter and led Sutter Health’s enterprise strategy and clinical transformation efforts related to the delivery of clinically integrated, personalized, patient-family engaged care, particularly for high-need, vulnerable populations and oversaw the Sutter Center for Integrated Care. Dr. Mahler also sponsored and supported enterprise-wide Clinical Improvement Communities related to Hospital Medicine and Palliative & Advanced Illness Care, and was the executive sponsor of Sutter’s Management and Clinical Excellence program. She earned her medical degree and residency from the University of California, San Francisco.

Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD

President
Stone Mountain Medical Associates, Inc.

Karl Steinberg is chief medical officer, Mariner Health Central Health, and a past chair of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. He is board certified in family medicine with CAQ in hospice and palliative medicine. He is also a certified medical director for skilled nursing facilities and hospices. Dr. Steinberg supervises the operation for 20 skilled nursing facilities and focuses on quality initiatives and efficient, person-centered care. He is associated with numerous professional organizations. Dr. Steinberg is a first-generation American. His mother was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, and immigrated to the US to attend college, then medical school. He is a US citizen and a Mexican national, and Spanish was his first language. After graduating from Harvard College with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, Steinberg attended medical school at Ohio State University. He did his training in family medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Steinberg thinks he is best known for taking his two dogs to work with him nearly every day.

Susan Elizabeth Wang, MD, FAAHPM, HMDC

National Leader, Dignified Journeys and Palliative Care
Kaiser Permanente

Susan Wang is the national leader for Dignified Journeys and Palliative Care at Kaiser Permanente (KP) where she supports the implementation of a high-quality ecosystem for the care of people with serious illness. She is working in partnership with market leaders in CA, OR, WA, GA, CO, HI, and Mid-Atlantic States to increase access to palliative care. Dr. Wang is also regional chief of the Dept. of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine in KP So. CA. In this role, she oversees the palliative clinics, geriatric clinics, inpatient palliative medicine services, and a robust SNF rounding program across 16 hospitals. She is the regional hospice medical director for an agency with an average daily census of 800 patients and home-based palliative care program with an average daily census of 1000. She has led KP SCAL as Medical Director of Life Care Planning and Shared Decision Making for almost a decade, creating a centralized advance care planning tab, an E-POLST, a primary palliative-skills curriculum, and multiple tools to enhance decision support for patients and families. Dr. Wang is Director Emeritus of the KP Los Angeles Hospice & Palliative Medicine fellowship, a program that she created in 2008. She is an assistant clinical professor at UCLA and triple board-certified in Internal, Geriatric, and Palliative Medicine.