.png)
Oroville Hospital Strengthens Its Clinical and Institutional Leadership
as Part of Its Ongoing Restructuring Process
OROVILLE, Calif. – Oct. 19, 2026 – As part of its ongoing restructuring, Oroville Hospital has strengthened its clinical and institutional leadership by appointing two new Co-Chief Medical Officers and two new independent Board members.
Long-time Oroville Hospital internal medicine physicians and hospitalists Dr. Linda Lay and Dr. Christopher Tonthat will serve as Co-CMOs, effective Oct. 2, 2026. Dr. Lay has over 15 years of clinical experience caring for patients in the Oroville area; Dr. Tonthat has over 10 years of clinical experience serving area patients.
As part of this transition, Oroville Hospital will be consolidating the inpatient and outpatient Chief Medical Officer duties, creating a unified clinical leadership structure that promotes consistency in medical oversight, quality improvement, patient safety, and provider engagement across the continuum of care. This integrated approach strengthens alignment between inpatient and outpatient services, streamlines decision-making, reduces duplication of responsibilities, and supports a cohesive strategy for advancing clinical excellence, operational efficiency, and improved patient outcomes.
Drs. Lay and Tonthat will share the roles that were previously held by Dr. Matthew Fine, Chief Medical Officer/Director of Patient Safety; Dr. Meghan Shorter, Associate Director of Patient Safety; and Dr. Mark Heinrich, Chief Medical Officer Outpatient Clinics. Drs. Lay and Tonthat will continue to perform their respective clinical duties in addition to their leadership responsibilities, and Dr. Shorter will continue to perform her clinical duties as an Emergency Room physician at the hospital.
We extend our sincere appreciation to Drs. Fine, Heinrich, and Shorter for their hard work, dedication, and invaluable contributions to the hospital, and we thank them for their commitment to advancing patient care and supporting our medical staff and community.
Additionally, the hospital recently appointed two respected hospital industry veterans – Michael A. Rembis and James A. Diegel – to serve as independent members of its Board of Trustees.
Rembis is a nationally recognized healthcare executive with more than 40 years of experience serving in various hospital leadership roles, including as President and CEO of nonprofit, investor-owned, safety net, and faith-based hospitals and health systems in urban, suburban, and rural communities across the country. Diegel has more than 30 years of experience serving as President and CEO and in other senior leadership positions at nonprofit, investor-owned, academic, district, and state-owned hospitals and health systems throughout the U.S.
The Oroville Hospital Board of Trustees also has voted to withdraw the hospital’s application for an Internal Medicine Residency Program from consideration by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Any grant money received for the Internal Medicine Residency Program will be returned. The Board took this action after determining that the Internal Medicine Residency Program would divert resources and funding from the hospital’s core programs and services while it navigates the Chapter 11 process. The hospital will continue to provide its wide range of internal medicine and specialty services to meet community demand for safe, high-quality patient care.
About Oroville Hospital
Oroville Hospital is a community hospital dedicated to providing the finest personalized healthcare to the Oroville and the surrounding foothill and valley communities by offering a wide range of integrated services from prevention through treatment to wellness. For more information, please visit www.OrovilleHospital.com.
####