Fund-raising prowess said not to factor in appointment
St. Petersburg — Governor-elect Charlie Crist is looking locally for answers to improve health care delivery in Florida.
He’s tapping entrepreneur Dr. A.K. Desai to head a group that will look for better ways to run the Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration.
The two agencies manage $16 billion in health care spending in Florida, which is about 21 percent of the state’s total $75 billion budget and second only to education in total state spending. The Health Care Citizens Review Group Desai will chair will identify opportunities for efficiencies in running the agencies, he said.
“As we spend billions of dollars, I’m sure there are opportunities to spend those wisely,” Desai said.
Between now and the inauguration, Desai said his group would conduct meetings in Tallahassee with department heads and key people among the administrative staff, reviewing legislative and budget priorities. He also said the group would talk to citizens who are receiving services from the departments.
Desai is one of nine Citizens Review Group leaders appointed by Crist.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker will head the “growth and environment” group, looking at the Department of Environmental Protection, Fish & Wildlife Commission, Department of Transportation and Department of Community Affairs.
Group leaders and members are volunteering their time, according to a release from Crist.
Separate personnel from policyMore than 300 state agency heads and top staff who serve under Gov. Jeb Bush have turned in their resignations, which is typical in preparation for a change in administrations. Crist’s transition team will deal with personnel issues, freeing the Citizens Review Group to concentrate solely on policy, Desai said.
“This eliminates the fear that people will lose their jobs because of what they will tell you,” said Susan MacManus, University of South Florida professor of public administration and political science.
Citizens Review Groups initially were established by Gov. Jeb Bush prior to his first term in office, said MacManus, who served on the group that looked at the Department of Health and AHCA eight years ago. Bush was one of the first governors in the nation to establish such groups, although many other governors have since followed his lead, she said.
Problem solverAlthough Desai and Baker are Republicans, as is Crist, group leaders are tapped for their expertise, not their political support, MacManus said.
Desai was a top fund-raiser for Crist, but Desai said that was separate from his appointment to the Citizens Review Group: “I was asked to head the group for my understanding of complex health care issues.”
Desai is chairman and CEO of Universal Health Care, a St. Petersburg-based managed care company that primarily focuses on Medicare and Medicaid coverage. He also has a private practice in St. Petersburg. He was appointed by Gov. Bush to the Board of Governors for the state university system and serves on the White House Commission on Asian American Pacific Islanders Health Committee that advises President Bush on issues affecting Asian Americans.
“I’m a policy wonk, and I like to be part of solving a problem,” Desai said.
Desai said he’s known Crist since the St. Petersburg resident ran for the state senate in the 1990s. Because Crist’s father and sister also are physicians, Desai said Crist is understanding and sympathetic to health care issues.
Also named to the Health Care Citizens Review Group was Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, a Broward County physician, who will be one of the team leaders looking at the Department of Health. A leader for the team looking at AHCA has yet to be appointed, Desai said.
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