California HMO Regulator To Assume Post as Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff; Praised as AIDS Advocate
California Department of Managed Health Care Director Daniel Zingale is leaving his post to take on a new job as deputy chief of staff for Gov. Gray Davis (D), the Sacramento Bee reports. Zingale will take over for Cabinet Secretary Susan Kennedy, who has been named to head the state Public Utilities Commission. Zingale has held many positions in state government and in health organizations, serving as state controller from 1987 to 1991 and as executive director of the lobbying group AIDS Action from 1997 to 1999. Most recently, Zingale helped Davis launch the DMHC to oversee managed care plans operating in California. Under Zingale, the DMHC created a 24-hour telephone hotline to allow consumers to register complaints or ask questions about their health coverage and issued an annual HMO report card. Zingale's replacement has not yet been named (Talev, Sacramento Bee, 1/15). AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein said, "We have known him as an AIDS and health care activist and advocate as well as a smart administrator, but more so in recent years as an innovative leader who has the governor's ear and can get things done for Californians in need" (AIDS Healthcare Foundation release, 1/15).
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