Countywide : Health Planning Agency Names Administrator

Richard E. Butler, administrator of Memorial Hospital in Guyman, Okla., has been named the new executive director of the Orange County Health Planning Agency.

Butler, 41, will replace Richard E. Badger, who left to work for a health insurance company.

The health planning council studies the impact of medical issues on consumers and monitors growth and changes in the local health-care industry.

“We are very pleased to find a director with the solid background in health-care administration that Richard Butler has,” said Angelina Guirindola, president of the council’s board of directors.

“We are especially impressed with his record of working with others in the community, including other hospitals, health-care groups, health-planning agencies and consumers who are concerned not only about the cost of health care but also about quality of care,” she said.

In addition to his current position, Butler served in administrative posts at a convalescent hospital in Redding and at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. He is past president of the Shasta County Health Planning Council.