Becker's Hospital Review

37 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP 37 CEO / STRATEGY Meet 13 members of Biden's COVID-19 health equity task force By Kelly Gooch P resident Joe Biden in February assembled a task force to help guide efforts to address health and social inequities related to the COVID-19 pandemic. e task force includes 12 members representing diverse back- grounds and expertise, a range of racial and ethnic groups, and numerous populations, the president said in announcing the ap- pointees Feb. 10. Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, chair of the task force, also asked HHS and five other federal agencies to be rep- resented on the group. Task force chair: Dr. Nunez-Smith, associate dean for health equity research at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. Task force members: Mayra Alvarez, president of e Children's Partnership, a Cali- fornia-based advocacy organization focused on advancing child health equity James Hildreth, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Nashville, Tenn.-based Meharry Medical College, the largest private, in- dependent historically Black academic health sciences center in the U.S. Andrew Imparato, disability rights attorney and the executive director of Disability Rights California Victor Joseph, former Tanana (Alaska) Chiefs Conference chief/chair Joneigh Khaldun, MD, chief medical executive for Michigan and the chief deputy director for health at the Michigan Depart- ment of Health and Human Services Octavio Martinez Jr., MD, executive director of the Hogg Foun- dation for Mental Health at e University of Texas at Austin Tim Putnam, president and CEO of Margaret Mary Health, a community hospital in Batesville, Ind. Vincent Toranzo, active student from Broward County, Fla. Mary Turner, RN, an intensive care unit nurse at North Memo- rial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Minn., and president of the Minnesota Nurses Association union Homer Venters, MD, a physician and epidemiologist working at the intersection of incarceration, health and human rights Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Health Care for the Home- less Council, which is based in Nashville, Tenn. Haeyoung Yoon, senior policy director at the New York City- based National Domestic Workers Alliance n Merck CEO to retire By Katie Adams K enneth Frazier will retire from his role as Merck's CEO June 30 after 10 years in the position, the drugmaker announced Feb. 4. The board of directors unanimously voted for Robert Davis, Merck's current executive vice president of global services and CFO, to take over as CEO immediately following Mr. Frazier's retirement. Mr. Davis became Merck's president April 1, at which time the company's human health, animal health, manufacturing and research laboratories divisions began reporting to him. He will also become a member of Merck's board once he takes over as CEO July 1. Mr. Frazier will continue to serve as the executive chair of Merck's board of directors for a transition period that has not yet been determined by the board. "The board and I are delighted that Rob will serve as Mer- ck's next CEO," Mr. Frazier said. "He has deep knowledge of our company and industry and has been a valued strategic thought partner to me and the Merck senior management team as well as a highly capable finance leader." n CEO gets 15 years in prison for $150M healthcare fraud By Ayla Ellison T he CEO of a group of Texas-based hospice and home health companies was sentenced Feb. 3 to 15 years in prison for his role in a $150 million health- care fraud and money laundering scheme, according to the Department of Justice. Henry McInnis was sentenced more than a year after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, conspir- acy to commit money laundering, obstruction of justice and healthcare fraud. From 2009 to 2018, Mr. McInnis and others submitted more than $150 million in false and fraudulent claims for health- care services. The claims were submitted through Merida Group, a hospice company with dozens of locations in Texas. Mr. McInnis was CEO of Merida. He had no medical training but acted as the company's nursing director. He also enforced a companywide practice of falsifying medical records to con- ceal the scheme and ordered employees to change medical records to make it appear patients were terminally ill. Mr. McInnis also paid bribes to physicians to certify unquali- fied patients for home health and hospice. Mr. McInnis was sentenced less than two months after the owner of Merida Group, Rodney Mesquias, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $120 million in restitution. n

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