Lynda S. Tanner has been named chair of the 2022 CenCal Health Board of Directors, CenCal Health CEO Marina Owen has announced. Tanner has served on the CenCal Health’s Board since 2015, most recently as vice chair and finance committee chair.
Tanner has been serving as president/CEO of VNA Health, an organization of 250 employees providing hospice, home health and palliative care service programs to more than 12,000 people annually across Santa Barbara County.
In preparation for her upcoming retirement, Tanner stepped down from her post as CEO of VNA Health on Feb. 14, but will remain with the organization as past president/CEO during a period of transition.
“Having worked with Lynda during my earlier tenure at CenCal Health, I know her to be an exceptional healthcare executive who is wholly dedicated to her community,” said Owen. “Lynda will be invaluable to me and our Board of Directors, offering us her thoughtful, professional guidance as together we fulfill our mission of improving the health and wellness of our diverse communities.”
After successfully pressing for legislation to increase end-of-life in-patient beds, in 2011 Tanner oversaw VNA Health’s opening of a new state-of-the-art inpatient hospice facility, Serenity House. She directed the acquisition of Community Home Health, which increased VNA Health’s delivery of home health services by 35%, and successfully obtained branch status for a satellite location in Santa Ynez.
Since 2014, Tanner has participated in VNA Health’s annual PHorum: Perspectives in Healthcare, providing leadership on key healthcare priorities in Santa Barbara.
In late 2017, after five years of work, Tanner announced VNA Health had achieved Level 4 of the We Honor Veterans; a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs. VNA Health is the only hospice organization in the Tri-County area (Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo) to have achieved this level.
As chairperson of the CenCal Health Board of Directors, Tanner will lead a representative group of directors from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. They are:
Sue Andersen, president/CEO, Marian Regional Medical Center
Supervisor Debbie Arnold, District 5, San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors
Dr. Edward S. Bentley, Santa Barbara Gastroenterology Consultants (Medical Association representative for Santa Barbara County)
Dr. René Bravo, Bravo Pediatrics (Medical Association representative for San Luis Obispo County)
Van Do-Reynoso, director, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
Supervisor Joan Hartmann, District 3, Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors
Dan Herlinger, Consumer Classification (Medi-Cal/Medicare representative for Santa Barbara County)
Richard “Michael” Hill, director, San Luis Obispo County Health Agency
Mark P. Lisa, CEO, Tenet Health Central Coast
Daniel Nielson, director, Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services
Tanner graduated from Idaho State University with a bachelor of science in nursing and later earned a master’s degree in nursing administration. She has some 40 years of experience working in homecare, including working as a consultant and a surveyor for The Joint Commission and as chief clinical executive at Sutter VNA and Hospice.
The Pacific Coast Business Times named Tanner the Grand Champion of Healthcare in 2017.
For more about CenCal Health, visit cencalhealth.org.