The impending departure of Health Connector Executive Director Jean Yang signals a coming tidal wave of change — but one that could face strong resistance from a board still filled with members hand-picked by Gov. Deval Patrick — once Republican Charlie Baker is sworn in as the state's chief executive, an expert said.
"It shows the change in philosophy at the connector and desire to go in a different direction, no question," said Joshua Archambault, a health care expert at the Pioneer Institute. "I suspect if the board membership doesn't change, there will be a lot of disagreement in board participation at the meetings about the different directions laid out."
A new leadership team at the connector could create fireworks at the usually tame board meetings and set up a showdown between Baker's new connector staffers and board members appointed by both Patrick and outgoing Attorney General Martha Coakley.
"They all hold different ideological positions and will not be shy about voicing them," said Archambault of the holdover board members. "The question is whether new staff and leadership at the connector can build the case for change."
Baker's Secretary of Administration & Finance Kristen Lepore will automatically serve as chairwoman of the 11-member connector board and Baker will get to select a few other ex-officio members.
But his first crack at replacing any of Patrick's picks won't come until July 1, when MIT professor Jonathan Gruber's term expires. Baker has called Gruber's controversial Obamacare comments, which landed him before a congressional committee that grilled him last month, "stupid and inappropriate."
Gruber declined to comment to the Herald yesterday about his or other board members' futures.
The rest of Baker's picks won't come until 2016 and 2017.
The incoming Baker administration has not said who it will name to replace Yang.
"I think the next director of the connector obviously needs to regain the public confidence that the connector works and is effective," said incoming Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders.
State Obamacare czar Maydad Cohen, who is staying on temporarily, said the Baker administration plans to find Yang's permanent replacement around Feb. 15, when open enrollment for Obamacare ends, then determine the connector's future staffing.
Yang announced yesterday she is stepping down after two years as head of the troubled Massachusetts Health Connector. She oversaw both the disastrous rollout of the state's failed Obamacare website last year and the costly rebuilding of the new portal.
Yang, who said she has no position lined up when she leaves Jan. 16, indicated the Baker administration also wanted her to depart.
"I would say that there was definitely some mutual expectation from all parties," said Yang. "It was a fairly straightforward discussion that we rapidly got to agreement."
Lindsay Kalter contributed to this story.
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