MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 21, 2024--
Carisk Partners, a leading integrated specialty risk transfer, care coordination, and care management services organization, is pleased to announce significant leadership appointments to strengthen its executive team and drive continued growth and innovation. Brian Bell, creator of HeadsUp Healthcare, which was acquired by Carisk Partners on October 1, 2024, has been named CEO of Carisk Partners’ Ancillary & Specialty Networks Division. Kevin Mahoney, current President and COO of Carisk Partners, has been appointed CEO of Carisk Partners Outcomes Division. These leadership changes are effective immediately.
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Neil Lentine, who has served as President of Carisk Partners Ancillary & Specialty Networks Division, will be retiring on April 1st, 2025. Lentine will remain as a Senior Advisor to the company beyond the transition period, ensuring a seamless shift in leadership and ongoing counsel. Neil will also be joining the Carisk Partners Board of Directors. In conjunction with these changes, Carisk’s current Chairman and CEO, Joseph Berardo, Jr., will assume the role of Executive Chairman of Carisk Partners Holding Company, where he will support Kevin and Brian and coordinate the company’s strategic vision and growth.
“Brian Bell brings a wealth of experience in healthcare management and a deep understanding of ancillary and specialty services, which makes him a perfect fit to lead Carisk’s Ancillary & Specialty Networks Division. I am confident he will take the division to new heights,” said Berardo. “Kevin Mahoney, with his robust background in outcomes-driven healthcare strategies, will excel in leading our Outcomes Division, ensuring we continue to deliver comprehensive, measurable, and impactful solutions for our customers and the injured workers they serve.”
Bell expressed enthusiasm for his new role, stating, “I am honored to have the HeadsUp Healthcare team join Carisk Partners at such an exciting time for the company. Carisk has an incredible reputation in the industry, and I look forward to collaborating with this talented team to expand our Ancillary & Specialty Networks Division, bringing enhanced value and innovative clinical services to our clients.”
Mahoney echoed this sentiment: “Leading Carisk’s Outcomes Division is an incredible opportunity to help shape the future of care management and deliver measurable outcomes. I am thrilled to lead and expand these innovative clinical programs that are so committed to creating positive, long-lasting impacts on the patients and clients we serve.”
Lentine, reflecting on his tenure and upcoming retirement, commented, “I have had the pleasure of working with an exceptional team at Carisk, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to the company’s growth. I am confident Brian and Kevin will lead their divisions successfully, continuing the mission and values that Carisk is known for.”
As Carisk moves forward with these executive appointments, the organization is well-positioned for continued growth and service excellence across its divisions. In his new role as Executive Chairman, Berardo will focus on Carisk’s strategic initiatives and long-term planning, continuing to provide guidance and leadership to Brian and Kevin as the company expands its footprint and clinical programs in the Workers’ Compensation marketplace.
For more information about Carisk Partners and its services, visit www.cariskpartners.com.
About Carisk Partners
Carisk Partners is a specialty risk transfer and care coordination company operating in the Workers’ Compensation market. Since 2016, Carisk Partners has redefined the way patients and clients access high quality care and support services. Today, Carisk continues to transform the Workers’ Compensation marketplace by providing seamless experiences across all products and services and empowering patients through its proprietary Pathways™ 2 Recovery care model. www.cariskpartners.com
About HeadsUp Healthcare
HeadsUp Healthcare is a patient-first specialty managed care company for Workers’ Compensation patients that focuses exclusively on above-the-neck injuries. Serving the country’s largest insurance carriers, third-party administrators, self-insured employers, state entities, and managed care organizations, HeadsUp Healthcare manages these injuries from initial assessment to completion of treatment. Known for its rapid response and outstanding customer service, HeadsUp Healthcare can be reached at 855-443-9872. To learn more about HeadsUp Healthcare go to www.headsupcare.com
Carisk® Partners Announces Key Leadership Appointments in Ancillary & Specialty Networks and Outcomes Divisions! (Graphic: Business Wire)
U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade.
The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice calls for sweeping punishments that would include a sale of Google's industry-leading Chrome web browser and impose restrictions to prevent Android from favoring its own search engine.
A sale of Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet,” Justice Department lawyers argued in their filing.
Although regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android too, they asserted the judge should make it clear the company could still be required to divest its smartphone operating system if its oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct.
The broad scope of the recommended penalties underscores how severely regulators operating under President Joe Biden's administration believe Google should be punished following an August ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that branded the company as a monopolist.
The Justice Department decision-makers who will inherit the case after President-elect Donald Trump takes office next year might not be as strident. The Washington, D.C. court hearings on Google's punishment are scheduled to begin in April and Mehta is aiming to issue his final decision before Labor Day.
If Mehta embraces the government's recommendations, Google would be forced to sell its 16-year-old Chrome browser within six months of the final ruling. But the company certainly would appeal any punishment, potentially prolonging a legal tussle that has dragged on for more than four years.
Besides seeking a Chrome spinoff and a corralling of the Android software, the Justice Department wants the judge to ban Google from forging multibillion-dollar deals to lock in its dominant search engine as the default option on Apple’s iPhone and other devices. It would also ban Google from favoring its own services, such as YouTube or its recently-launched artificial intelligence platform, Gemini.
Regulators also want Google to license the search index data it collects from people’s queries to its rivals, giving them a better chance at competing with the tech giant. On the commercial side of its search engine, Google would be required to provide more transparency into how it sets the prices that advertisers pay to be listed near the top of some targeted search results.
Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer, lashed out at the Justice Department for pursuing “a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology.” In a blog post, Walker warned the “overly broad proposal” would threaten personal privacy while undermining Google’s early leadership in artificial intelligence, “perhaps the most important innovation of our time.”
Wary of Google’s increasing use of artificial intelligence in its search results, regulators also advised Mehta to ensure websites will be able to shield their content from Google’s AI training techniques.
The measures, if they are ordered, threaten to upend a business expected to generate more than $300 billion in revenue this year.
“The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired,” the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. “The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.”
It’s still possible that the Justice Department could ease off attempts to break up Google, especially if Trump takes the widely expected step of replacing Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who was appointed by Biden to oversee the agency's antitrust division.
Although the case targeting Google was originally filed during the final months of Trump’s first term in office, Kanter oversaw the high-profile trial that culminated in Mehta's ruling against Google. Working in tandem with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, Kanter took a get-tough stance against Big Tech that triggered other attempted crackdowns on industry powerhouses such as Apple and discouraged many business deals from getting done during the past four years.
Trump recently expressed concerns that a breakup might destroy Google but didn’t elaborate on alternative penalties he might have in mind. “What you can do without breaking it up is make sure it’s more fair,” Trump said last month. Matt Gaetz, the former Republican congressman that Trump nominated to be the next U.S. Attorney General, has previously called for the breakup of Big Tech companies.
Gaetz faces a tough confirmation hearing.
This latest filing gave Kanter and his team a final chance to spell out measures that they believe are needed to restore competition in search. It comes six weeks after Justice first floated the idea of a breakup in a preliminary outline of potential penalties.
But Kanter's proposal is already raising questions about whether regulators seek to impose controls that extend beyond the issues covered in last year’s trial, and — by extension — Mehta’s ruling.
Banning the default search deals that Google now pays more than $26 billion annually to maintain was one of the main practices that troubled Mehta in his ruling.
It's less clear whether the judge will embrace the Justice Department’s contention that Chrome needs to be spun out of Google, and the recommendation that Android should be completely walled off from the company's own search engine.
“It is probably going a little beyond,” Syracuse University law professor Shubha Ghosh said of the Chrome breakup. “The remedies should match the harm, it should match the transgression. This does seem a little beyond that pale.”
Google rival DuckDuckGo, whose executives testified during last year's trial, asserted the Justice Department is simply doing what needs to be done to rein in a brazen monopolist.
“Undoing Google’s overlapping and widespread illegal conduct over more than a decade requires more than contract restrictions: it requires a range of remedies to create enduring competition,” Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo's senior vice president of public affairs, said in a statement.
Trying to break up Google harks back to a similar punishment initially imposed on Microsoft a quarter century ago following another major antitrust trial that culminated in a federal judge deciding the software maker had illegally used his Windows operating system for PCs to stifle competition.
However, an appeals court overturned an order that would have broken up Microsoft, a precedent many experts believe will make Mehta reluctant to go down a similar road with the Google case.
FILE - The Google building is seen in New York, Feb. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
