UnitedHealth Adds Ex-Children's Hospital CEO Bell to Board
UnitedHealth is rebuilding trust, and its board is part of that effort. The insurer has put Madeline Bell, a former nurse who ran Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, on its board with immediate effect.
Who Bell is
Bell spent four decades in pediatric nursing and executive roles at the hospital. She retired last month as president and CEO. Before that she was chief operating officer for eight years, and she held the top job for 11 years starting in 2015.
During her tenure, the system doubled to a $6 billion enterprise with more than 30,000 employees, according to Bell's LinkedIn page. She already has board experience. She sits on the board of Comcast and previously chaired the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
The company announced the appointment this week. CEO and chairman Stephen Hemsley said her background running clinical teams and a large hospital system will "bring an important perspective to our Board."
In a statement on Monday, Bell said that as a nurse and a hospital leader, "I know how much it matters when care is coordinated, accessible and affordable."
A board in a turnaround
This is the second board appointment since UnitedHealth began a financial and operational turnaround under Hemsley. He took over last spring after Andrew Witty left.
The company is repairing damage on several fronts. Medical spending rose sharply over the past few years and squeezed margins. Scrutiny of its business practices grew. The killing of its top insurance executive also eroded public trust.
Last year the company formed a new "public responsibility" committee meant to improve corporate governance. It also added Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to the board.
The pay question
Bell's record has a complication. A Philadelphia Inquirer investigation found she made $7.7 million in 2021, a figure that put her near the top of US pay for local health system chiefs.
The paper reported that her pay package exceeded the nonprofit hospital's combined charity care spending for the previous three years. Her total pay fell to $3.7 million the next year.
Source: Healthcare Dive