Richmond, CA, February, 2009 – EMPATH Consulting, who provides hospital-wide implementation projects that transform client patient care operations, has promoted Dave Helfer to the position of Senior Vice President. In this position, Dave will be leading the design and implementation of EMPATH hospital-wide innovation projects.

"Dave Helfer came to EMPATH with many years of senior executive hospital experience. In spite of that, he has quickly learned the EMPATH methodologies and has been a significant contributor to improving those processes, building strong relationships with clients, and leading EMPATH staff. All who have interacted with Dave know of his commitment to growing EMPATH, developing employees, and establishing a culture of high character.", says Brent Fisher, EMPATH's COO.

Prior to joining EMPATH, Mr. Helfer's most recent role was as Senior Vice President, St. Luke's Episcopal Health System, home of the Texas Heart® Institute, Houston, TX. David had executive level responsibility for St. Luke's in and outpatient perioperative services, comprised of 48 suites with an annual budget exceeding $330M. At one point, nearly 750 FTEs were in his work division. He also served as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of St. Luke's Community Health Services.

About EMPATH

EMPATH is the only healthcare consulting firm solely dedicated to improving the operational efficiency of the hospital enterprise. EMPATH is committed to the provision of efficient, customer-focused patient care, and the implementation of appropriate clinical and administrative systems to ensure top levels of hospital operational performance. These accomplishments are possible through the use of best-in-class operations knowledge base, learning delivery systems, sophisticated technology systems, and performance metrics that enable an institution to isolate, with great precision, the specific variables that need to be monitored to dramatically and rapidly improve performance. EMPATH is headquartered in Richmond, California.