The group will host public discussions and shape future efforts to improve access, quality, affordability, and innovation.
William F. Carpenter III, former chairman and CEO for LifePoint Health, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, will co-chair a healthcare "modernization task force" in the state that has been called "the Silicon Valley for healthcare companies," officials announced this week.
Carpenter and his co-chair, Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter, will lead a team of state lawmakers and healthcare executives as they host public discussions to drive the state's efforts to improve healthcare access, quality, affordability, and innovation in the state, according to the announcement.
Carpenter said he is honored to support the task force under Gov. William Byron Lee, a Republican and longtime businessman who was elected in 2018.
"This is a great opportunity to leverage our state's deep bench of health care expertise and bring people together to share knowledge and ideas, and bring innovative solutions to our state's health care delivery system," Carpenter said in a statement.
Carpenter retired from LifePoint last November, when the company finalized its merger with RCCH HealthCare Partners and exited the stock market. The deal was valued at $5.6 billion.
With a non-binding vote a year ago, shareholders expressed disapproval of more than $120 million in golden parachutes for the company's departing executives. But the terms of the compensation package would be paid out anyway, a company spokesperson told HealthLeaders when the deal closed.
Carpenter was a founding employee when the company formed in 1999. He had served as CEO since 2006 and as board chairman since 2010.
In addition to members from the Tennessee General Assembly, the task force includes a number of other healthcare executives and community leaders:
- Mike Carrigan, MD, FACP, FACPE, CPE, Chief Administrator, Premier Medical Group
- James Bailey, MD, MPH, FACP, Professor and Director, Center for Health System Improvement, Robert S. Pearce Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center
- Brian DeBusk, PhD, MBA, First Vice-Chairman, Board of Trustees, Lincoln Memorial University
- James E.K. Hildreth, PhD, MD, President, Meharry Medical College
- Melanie Keller, RN, BSN, MHA, CEO Meritan, Inc.
- Mary Kiger, MPP, Executive Director of TN Charitable Care Network'
- Kathie Krause, MSN, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital
- Shantelle Leatherwood, MHA, CMPE, CEO, Christ Community Health Services
- Alan Levine, MBA, MHS, Executive Chairman, President and CEO of Ballad Health
- Jim King, MD, Family Physician
- Kim Parker, MSSW, Director of Inpatient and Crisis Services, Pathways Behavioral Health Services
- Jeff Tibbals, Scott County Mayor
- Michael Ugwueke, DHA, MPH, FACHE, President and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
- Andrea Willis, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tennessee
- Randy Wykoff, MD, MPH & TM, Dean and Professor, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University
The formation of this task force comes after McWhorter and eight members of Lee's cabinet held listening sessions across the state last summer.
Steven Porter is an associate content manager and Strategy editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.
Photo credit: Exterior view of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, TN, with cars and people. (Alizada Studios / Shutterstock.com)