Two months into his tenure as chief executive officer of the West Penn Allegheny Health System, Dr. Christopher Olivia is shaking up his executive staff and hiring consultants to help with a long-promised consolidation of hospitals and services.

The biggest move involves James Rosenberg, chief operating officer and executive vice president of hospital operations. His position has been eliminated, and Mr. Rosenberg is scheduled to leave the organization May 31.

A new position of executive vice president and chief administrative officer will be filled by Roy Santarella, currently chief financial officer at Crozer-Keystone Health System in the Philadelphia area. Mr. Santarella, scheduled to start July 31, will also hold the title of acting chief financial officer. He will report directly to Dr. Olivia.

Another new addition is Janice James, who will assume the interim post of acting chief integration officer. Ms. James is a managing director of Huron Consulting Group, a Chicago-based health care consultancy. Dr. Olivia also has hired Huron for an assessment of West Penn Allegheny's hospital operations. Ms. James will work with the presidents of Allegheny General Hospital and The Western Pennsylvania Hospital (the two system flagships) as they try to consolidate programs and departments in an attempt to compete more effectively with rival University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Dr. Olivia has also hired The Bard Group in Needham, Mass. to work with physicians during the integration process. Bard descibes itself as a "physician-led consulting firm that specializes in the working relationships between physicans and the organizations with whom they partner."

Another internal promotion recently approved by Dr. Olivia is the elevation of general counsel Judy Hlafcsak from vice president to executive vice president.

West Penn Allegheny is the region's second-largest health system, after the 20-hospital UPMC.

Dr. Olivia arrived in late March from a hospital in New Jersey. His hiring was one of several personnel changes following last summer's departure of system CEO Jerry Fedele.