SCAN Health Plan has named Dr. Dan Osterweil VP and medical director, effective immediately. Osterweil had been serving as a consultant to Long Beach, Calif.-based Medicare Advantage plan since December 2012, helping with its case management program training, physician education and other health plan initiatives.

Osterweil recently spoke on SCAN's behalf at the 2012 Annual Quality Symposium, addressing hospital readmission rates among the elderly. A trained gerontologist, Osterweil has chaired SCAN's Leadership and Management in Geriatrics Conference and also founded the Specialized Ambulatory Geriatric Evaluation Clinic in Los Angeles.

“As our society ages it is more important than ever that physicians have the tools, knowledge and confidence needed to help seniors get the care they need to live their lives to the fullest,” Dr. Timothy Schwab, chief medical officer of SCAN, said in a news release.

“Dr. Osterweil will play a vital role in this effort,” Schwab said.

Osterweil, whose age was not immediately available, has also been a professor of medicine at UCLA since 1984 and will continue his tenure there.