County of San Diego HHSA Announcement
I am pleased to announce two major developments for our Health and Human Services Agency.
First, Nicholas "Dr. Nick" Yphantides, MD, MPH, will be moving into a full-time role as the agency's chief medical officer (CMO) starting Friday, September 2. Dr. Nick has already been serving the agency in the same role on a part-time, advisory basis for the past seven and a half years. Presently, I look forward to having Dr. Nick champion our Live Well San Diego vision and aspirations on a full-time basis. I am confident that he will continue to provide visionary leadership in our clinical initiatives and to our clinical leaders throughout the county. Dr. Nick has a gift for bringing people to the table and working collaboratively to solve some of region's greatest challenges without sacrificing our commitment to quality in everything we do.
Secondly, I am excited to announce the creation of a new division within our agency called Medical Care Services (MCS) that Dr. Nick will be leading. This new division will focus on the many facets of clinical care operations that our agency staff provide, contract and coordinate with our diverse healthcare partners, including hospitals, clinics, physician and dental practices, among others. The leadership team that will comprise MCS includes the child health and medical officer, chief nursing officer, chief dental officer, medical director for Emergency Medical Services, EMS coordinator, and the Healthy San Diego coordinator. The Medical Care Services Division will be working on clinical care quality assurance, Medicaid policy, health information exchange, emergency medicine, and dental health. The division will be implemented over the course of this year.
In addition to his CMO role, Dr. Nick’s background makes him an ideal leader for this new division. As a member of the agency's executive team, Dr. Nick is also the vice chair of San Diego Health Connect (our region's health information exchange). He's on the boards of Champions for Health, the San Diego County Medical Society, Be There San Diego, UCSD School of Medicine alumni board, and the California Schools VEBA Medical Appropriateness Project (MAP). He brings with him a multi-dimensional perspective of integrating health and community services with a focus and passion for high-risk, high-need, and under-served populations.
As many of you know, he graduated with high honors from UCSD's School of Medicine, earned a master's degree in public health from Loma Linda University, and did his undergraduate studies at Azusa Pacific University, where he also now serves on the University's board of trustees. Dr. Nick did an internship in family medicine in Ventura County and residency training in preventive medicine at SDSU / UCSD. Dr. Nick's entire career has been as an advocate and servant leader for those in our community who need it the most. For many years he was in clinical practice and had administrative responsibilities as the chief medical officer of Neighborhood Health Care in North County. He was the former chairman of the board of directors for Palomar Health, the largest hospital district in California. Dr. Nick also has had experience as the medical director of a medical health plan, as the chief medical officer of the Council of Community Clinics (now called Health Center Partners), was the founding co-chair of San Diego County's Childhood Obesity Initiative, and is on the boards of various community, charity, and faith-based organizations.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Nick in leading our agency’s new Division of Medical Care Services.
— Nick Macchione, Director, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency