Governor Maura Healey on Friday named four new members to a restructured Health Policy Commission, the state agency charged with keeping health care costs under control, and reappointed two previous members.
The new appointees are Sandra Cotterell, retired CEO of Codman Square Health Center; Chris Leibman, a senior vice president at Biogen; Umesh Kurpad, former chief financial officer of health insurer Point32Health; and Steve Walsh, president of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association.
Walsh was appointed to a new slot reserved to represent the hospital sector, though there has been concern among some critics that his appointment could pose a conflict of interest because he is paid by the association’s hospital members. A spokesperson for Healey said Walsh has filed an ethics disclosure stating he will “wall himself off” from matters at the hospital association that may come before the HPC for approval, and will recuse himself at the HPC from certain matters involving association members.
Healey also reappointed Deborah Devaux, a former executive at the Beth Israel Lahey Health system, who will remain the HPC’s chair, and Jamie Wilmuth, a senior policy analyst with healthcare union 1199 SEIU. Healey’s health secretary, Kiame Mahaniah, and her insurance commissioner, Michael Caljouw, are also ex-officio members.
The makeup of the HPC was significantly restructured as a result of a health care law that Healey signed last year, giving her the power to appoint the majority of its members, and expanding the data collection and industry review powers of both the HPC and the state Center for Health Information and Analysis.
Among other things, the legislation included two new seats to represent the voice of hospital and health care systems (the one that is going to Walsh), and the biotech and medical device sectors (going to Biogen’s Leibman). The legislation also removed seats that were previously held by a primary care doctor, and an employer representative.
The Health Policy Commission had canceled a previously scheduled board meeting on Thursday; a spokeswoman said the HPC staff will be revisiting its meeting calendar with the new board. The earlier schedule for 2025 was established in December, but old board members’ terms expired at the end of June.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell has reappointed Alecia McGregor, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Martin Cohen, the retired CEO of the MetroWest Health Foundation, to the board as well, and still can appoint a third member, for a seat set aside for a health care economist.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
