(French Camp, CA) –

Health Plan of San Joaquin (HPSJ) has announced that Sunny T. Cooper, MHS, CHIE, has joined HPSJ as Compliance and Privacy Officer. Cooper, who comes to HPSJ with extensive senior executive experience in Medicaid (known as Medi-Cal in California), as well as Medicare and commercial health insurance, is a widely respected leader in establishing internal controls to ensure health plan operations are compliant with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and regulatory requirements.

HPSJ CEO Amy Shin said: “Through her experiences and career-long values that perfectly match up with many of our HPSJ values – including accountability, integrity, and stewardship – Sunny Cooper is leading our Compliance team to improve our program of regulatory compliance. She has already had success improving HPSJ processes and systems thereby creating efficiencies and workflow clarities.” She added that “Sunny’s many years of broad experience as a seasoned leader in Medi-Cal managed care, at both San Francisco Health Plan and L.A. Care Health Plan, make her an ideal person to join our leadership team.”

Cooper said, “Compliance and safeguarding PHI (Protected Health Information) ultimately are everyone’s responsibility.” She has underlined to employees that at HPSJ: “It is part of everyone’s job to commit fully to compliance and to be ever vigilant in the detection, prevention, and correction of fraud, waste and abuse while administering benefits and services for our members.” Cooper, in her first few months at HPSJ, has already ensured that existing and new staff receive comprehensive on-going training regarding federal and state compliance standards – an essential building block for a successful, sustainable compliance function.

Most recently, as chief information officer at San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP), Cooper’s many accomplishments included leading the team that built strong IT infrastructure, and secure data and business systems – a team that continues to protect San Francisco Health Plan members and providers.

Cooper received her Bachelor of Sciences degree in radiologic technology (administration option), graduating Summa Cum Laude with Distinction from The Ohio State University. She went on to earn a Master of Health Sciences (MHS) degree in health finance and management from The Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Maryland). Her extensive professional education has included the Executive Leadership Program (ELP) through the American Health Insurance Plan (AHIP), where she also earned the designation of Certified Health Insurance Executive (CHIE).

In 2015, Cooper co-founded Women in Healthcare IT (WHIT), serving as chair from 2015-2017. WHIT is a nonprofit formed by volunteers passionate about developing young, talented women in the healthcare IT industry. Cooper, who helped build two mentorship programs for both young careerists and high school students, continues to serve as a WHIT board member.

This commitment to upcoming generations is another sign of how Cooper’s values match up with HPSJ values. HPSJ is a leading collaborator in developing local career opportunities, both as a major employer and as a nonprofit, public health plan investing in scholarships. Also, for the HPSJ scholarships program, HPSJ employees volunteer their time to mentor talented young women and men on track to be future health care providers – hopefully in our community where we are tackling severe local health workforce shortages.

About HPSJ
Health Plan of San Joaquin, a not-for-profit, public health plan, has been serving members and the community since 1996. Located in the heart of California’s multicultural Central Valley, local HPSJ is the leading Medi-Cal managed care provider, serving over 91% of Medi-Cal recipients in San Joaquin County and over 66% in Stanislaus County. HPSJ offers a broad network of providers and works closely with doctors to develop programs and services to ensure quality health care for almost 350,000 members who are mostly working families and children (over half under 19 years of age), as well as seniors and disabled residents. More information at: www.hpsj.com, or call HPSJ at 888-936-PLAN (7526); TTY/TDD 711.