Florida’s King-Shaw Tapped for HCFA Deputy Administrator Post
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has tapped Ruben King-Shaw, Florida's "controversial"
Agency for Health Care Administration secretary, to serve as deputy administrator of HCFA, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. As "second-in-command" at HCFA, King-Shaw will run the agency's "day-to-day operations," HHS spokesperson Campbell Garrett said (Kestin, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 3/31). Thompson said, "[King-Shaw] will function as COO at HCFA, and we will look to his management leadership to build on HCFA's strengths, ensure its responsiveness to beneficiaries and stakeholders and enable it to perform the very difficult tasks that face it every day with the excellence that taxpayers deserve" (
HHS release, 3/30). King-Shaw, who has served as Florida's AHCA chief since December 1998, represents the first member of Gov. Jeb Bush's (R) administration "tapped for a job under the governor's big brother" (Associated Press, 3/30). During his tenure as head of Florida's AHCA, King-Shaw has "seen some controversies." He ended an investigation into "patient dumping" at two HMOs that he had headed before assuming the post at AHCA, attributing the move to a "shift in focus" to cases involving "prescription drug fraud and patient dumping by nursing homes" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/2). In addition, the agency is being sued over whether its abortion policy is more restrictive than allowed by the state constitution (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 4/2). The Florida agency last year also was the target of an FBI and grand jury investigation over alleged "bid-rigging" for a $24 million Medicaid contract. As deputy administrator at HCFA, King-Shaw will report to Thomas Scully, who President Bush tapped two weeks ago to head the agency (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 3/31). Bush had reportedly considered King-Shaw for HCFA's top position as well (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/2).
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