Dr. Penny Wheeler, president and CEO of Allina Health, has been appointed to the board of directors at Health Catalyst, a Salt Lake City-based data warehousing and analytics company.
Wheeler, 56, will officially join the board in July. She was named CEO of Minneapolis-based Allina in January after serving as chief clinical officer of the provider network for the past nine years.
Allina, which has 12 hospitals and more than 90 clinics, signed a $108 million agreement in January to outsource its information technology data warehousing, analytics and performance-improvement areas to Health Catalyst for the next 10 years. The agreement is partially risk-based, meaning 20% of it, roughly $20 million, is tied to specific outcomes and goals set by both companies.
The deal brought 60 former Allina employees to Health Catalyst and made Allina “a meaningful owner in Health Catalyst,” Health Catalyst CEO Dan Burton said at the time. The new employees were also awarded equity in the company.
When asked about any conflict of interest related to the deal, Wheeler said in a statement that the companies “looked carefully at any conflicts of interest issues.” She said she will recuse herself from any discussions specifically related to Allina or its relationship with Health Catalyst.
“Like all good governance, any conflict of interest issues are fully disclosed,” Wheeler said.
The company said Wheeler's policy on recusing herself from discussions about her company had applied to other strategic investors in the past.
Wheeler will not be compensated by Health Catalyst for her role because she is a non-independent board member, due to the relationship between the two companies, Health Catalyst said in a statement. Non-independent board members have not received compensation in the past and it's unlikely they will in the future, the company said.
It's unlikely Wheeler's status will change to independent in the coming years, if ever, the company said.
Modern Healthcare recently named Wheeler one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare.
