NAMES IN THE NEWS

Florida Health Advisory Committee Includes Former ASCA Board President

DECEMBER 13, 2018

David Shapiro

David M. Shapiro, MD, CASC, former ASCA Board president and anesthesiologist at Red Hills Surgical Center in Tallahassee, Florida, has joined a 50-member Transition Advisory Committee on Health and Wellness in Tallahassee. Florida Lieutenant Governor-elect Jeanette Nuñez and former Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) Secretary Alan Levine co-chair the committee that could help shape health-care plans for incoming Governor Ron DeSantis, according to a December 8 news release.

Transition panels look at existing policy and administration and compare them to new policies and priorities of the incoming administration, Levine said in the release. Decisions about appointment of agency heads usually are not made at the policy committee level, he added.

In the past, transition teams wrapped up their work just before new governors were sworn in, said Levine, who served as secretary of AHCA under President George W. Bush. DeSantis, a Republican former congressman, will take office Jan. 8.

The committee held its first meeting on December 12.