Dive Brief:
- UnitedHealth has added Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to its board of directors as the healthcare behemoth continues to remake its leadership and governance teams.
- Gottlieb starts effective immediately, UnitedHealth announced Tuesday. The executive served as FDA commissioner from 2017 to 2019 during the first Trump administration and was well-respected during his tenure.
- Gottlieb is joining UnitedHealth during a tricky inflection point as the managed care and health services giant works to right the ship following a series of operational, regulatory and PR crises.
Dive Insight:
UnitedHealth has struggled over past few years amid rising medical expenses, a costly cyberattack, antitrust probes from federal regulators and other challenges. The spotlight on the company further increased after its top insurance executive was publicly killed late last year.
The string of crises has made investors skittish, and UnitedHealth’s value has plummeted as a result. The company’s stock remains down 39% this year to date, despite a turnaround plan that’s yielded some recent signs of success.
Amid the broad spate of challenges, one priority for Stephen Hemsley — the chairman of UnitedHealth’s board who became CEO in May following the abrupt departure of then-chief executive Andrew Witty — is to improve the company’s relationship with regulators.
Gottlieb, who has years of experience with regulatory agencies, could be a big help with that.
Over his career, Gottlieb has held a variety of posts in the public and private sectors. In government, Gottlieb worked for the FDA, the CMS and the committee that advises the HHS on health IT policy before being tapped as FDA commissioner in May 2017.
Gottlieb was a generally popular choice, especially compared to some of the first Trump administration’s more unconventional earlier candidates.
During his tenure, Gottlieb encouraged the FDA to accelerate generic drug approvals, advance the broader use of copycat biosimilar drugs and work to combat the opioid crisis. Gottlieb focused on issues like e-cigarettes that were previously less of a priority.
Though the FDA flagged anticompetitive concerns under his leadership, Gottlieb was still viewed favorably by the industries he regulated for getting the agency to pick up the pace of drug and medical device approvals.
But after two years at the helm, Gottlieb stepped down to spend more time with his family just before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Since leaving the FDA, Gottlieb has worked as a senior fellow at the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute and as a partner at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates.
Gottlieb has also joined the boards of at least seven health tech and biopharmaceutical companies. His appointment to the board of directors of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, a scant three months after leaving the FDA, in particular sparked discussion about “revolving door” conflicts of interest from executives jumping between regulatory agencies and the companies they oversee.
UnitedHealth declined to comment on the reason behind Gottlieb’s appointment. But in a statement, Hemsley called the executive an “innovator” advocating for “a more integrated health care approach supported by the latest technology.”
Meanwhile, Gottlieb said he looked forward to working with UnitedHealth, including to “help shape how medical breakthroughs are developed and made accessible to patients who may benefit from them.”
“I hope to leverage my experience to support providers in their delivery of care that’s not only more innovative but also more affordable, and that improves outcomes for patients and communities,” Gottlieb said in the Tuesday release.
Since becoming CEO, Hemsley has made a number of changes to the company’s leadership — including appointing a new CFO — and its board.
In August, UnitedHealth said it would form a new “public responsibility” board committee to improve corporate governance, including monitoring regulatory risks.
UnitedHealth declined to comment on if Gottlieb will serve on any specific committees.
