News notes: Permanente official joins hospital rate-setting agency; a new public affairs firm

The appointment of Dr. Farzaneh Sabi, an associate medical director with Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, to the Health Services Cost Review Commission brings the number of women on the seven-member panel to two. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

Brandon Wright, a former official in the administration of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, is striking out on his own and opening Oak Grove Strategies, a new public affairs and government relations firm.

“What I have found from my time working in Washington, D.C., at trade associations and public affairs firms, and working in Annapolis and the Hogan administration as well, is that successful advocacy campaigns are communications driven,” Wright said.

“So, when there are big issues that come up in Annapolis, you really need to engage a public affairs firm to help develop that communications part of your advocacy effort,” he said. “That’s what I see is missing in Annapolis. I believe I fill that gap.”

For the last seven years, Wright served as vice president of communications and media relations for the National Waste & Recycling Association. He was director of communications for more than a year prior to that promotion.

Before that, Wright served three years as chief of staff in the Maryland Department of Planning.

Wright said some of his focus will be on land-use issues, including solar farms and battery storage, as well as environmental sustainability — an extension of his time with the National Waste & Recycling Association.

For now, Wright is not offering lobbying services but didn’t rule them out in the future.

Wright holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and marketing from Salisbury University. He lives in Annapolis with his wife and two children.

HSCRC welcomes new female commissioner

The Health Services Cost Review Commission welcomed a new member at its July meeting: Dr. Farzaneh Sabi, an associate medical director with Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group.

Sabi’s appointment to the commission brings the number of women serving on the board to two. She joins Nicki McCann, vice president of provider/payer transformation for Johns Hopkins Health System, as the only other woman on the seven-member commission.

Last year, some abortion rights advocates and lawmakers raised concerns that the seven-member commission lacked sufficient pro-abortion female voices compared to the general population, particularly in a post-Roe v. Wade political landscape.

“I am an OB-GYN, grew up and was raised in Maryland,” Sabi said in brief opening remarks at the July 10 meeting. “So, so excited to be a part of this commission.”

Sabi’s appointment filled a vacancy left by former Vice Chair Joseph Antos, whose last meeting on the commission was in June. Antos served on the commission from 2004 to 2012 and then from 2016 to 2024. He is a senior fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on the economics of health policy and an adjunct associate professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Dr. James Elliott now serves as vice chair of the commission in Antos’ place. Elliott is a pathologist with Luminis Health who serves as the medical director in the Division of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Doctors’ Community Hospital.

The HSCRC is a powerful state agency that sets hospital rates. Gov. Wes Moore previous round of appointments to the commission last year received mild scrutiny: Not only was the gender-parity issue raised, but there were lingering legal questions about whether the makeup of the commission violated state statute limiting the number of hospital representatives who can serve on the board at one time.

The Moore administration said at the time that the appointees met “statutory requirements,” despite those raised legal questions.

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