Dr. Malinda Southard, a Carson City chiropractor and health preparedness official for the state, is the new executive director of Nevada’s Patient Protection Commission, a legislatively-created board charged with improving the delivery and cost of healthcare in the state.
Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Southard’s appointment on Monday.
She is the second executive director of the Commission, which was created via a bill sponsored by Sisolak. The first resigned last year.
“The PPC has begun valuable work to support Nevadans and I know that together we can work to improve health care access and address critical issues for the good of all patients,” Southard said in a statement released by the governor.
The Current reported earlier this year that Dr. Anthony Slonim, an industry-friendly member of the 12- member PPC appointed to represent patient interests, seemed opposed to the governor’s effort to ensure health care cost increases don’t outpace wage growth.
“We have hospitals closing beds. We have doctors leaving the workforce. We have nurses leaving the workforce,” said Slonim, who earned $1.86 million at the time as president and CEO of Renown Health in Reno. He was terminated from his job this month with cause, after an internal investigation, according to news reports.
Dr. Southard will begin her new position on April 4.
Sisolak’s office Monday also announced the appointment of Allison Genco as the state’s first public health resource officer. The position was created by the Legislature in 2021 and is tasked with identifying unmet public health needs and recommending ways to meet them.