“Smith, who co-founded palliative care provider Aspire Health with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, is being teed up to replace current director Adam Boehler, your PULSE scribe scooped Thursday night.”
“The 36-year-old Smith is a former Rhodes scholar and McKinsey consultant who held a high-level economic development job in Tennessee under former Gov. Bill Haslam and was a staffer for former Sen. Bob Corker. Like Boehler, he’s also a successful entrepreneur: The Tennessean reported Aspire was sold to Anthem for an estimated $440 million last year.”
“Multiple moving parts remain before HHS would announce Smith, who’s met with HHS leaders but is still going through review. Boehler also is waiting on Senate confirmation for a new role steering U.S. international investment in developing countries. But agency leaders are high on Smith — some HHS staff are calling him “Adam 2.0″ — as someone who will continue Boehler’s track record of driving payment models through the innovation center…” Read the full article here.
Source: Hahn edges out Sharpless as front-runner for FDA – By Dan Diamond, September 6, 2019. POLITICO Pulse.