New President Named by Abbey Healthcare : Management: The head of a company recently acquired by the Costa Mesa firm was selected to fill the position.

Abbey Healthcare Group Inc. appointed a new president Monday, filling a position that had been vacant since February.

Jerilyn P. Asher, the new executive, will keep her current position of president at Protocare Inc. of Waltham, Mass., which Abbey acquired in March in a $12 million deal.

Also Monday, Abbey said it has promoted Steven T. Plochocki to chief operating officer from executive vice president of sales and operations. The position is a new one, Abbey said, to oversee both of the fast-growing company’s businesses: home health care and home infusion and respiratory therapy.

“We’re integrating the two businesses, getting them to work together,” said Timothy M. Aitken, Abbey’s chairman and chief executive officer.

The company, which had $329 million in revenue for 1993, has spent more than $240 million to acquire 31 companies during the past two years.

One of those purchases was Total Pharmaceutical Care, a Torrance-based company that Abbey bought in September for $197 million. At the time, Abbey hired Victor Chaltiel, chairman and president of Total Pharmaceutical, as its own president and chief executive officer.

In February, Abbey announced that Chaltiel had resigned. The executive subsequently filed a lawsuit against Abbey alleging wrongful termination.

Protocare, which provides home infusion and nursing services from 16 locations on the East Coast, is well regarded in the industry, and the addition of Asher to Abbey’s executive circle should boost investor confidence, one analyst said Monday.

The company’s stock closed at $14 on Monday, down $1 in trading on the Nasdaq market.