Andy Teuber beat a hasty retreat from his mega job leading Alaska’s largest Native health organization, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
Little is known about why he quit the organization, which he has led since 2008, or why he also suddenly resigned from the University of Alaska Board of Regents, all at the same time, without reason. The mainstream media has not revealed the cause for Teuber’s unexpected departure.
Teuber may be the highest paid health administrator in the state. In 2017, the latest MRAK could determine, he was awarded a $1.2 million salary and benefits package from ANTHC.
In 2019, the organization had 3,485 employees, $707 million in revenue, and $949 million in assets, much of it the sprawling medical campus in east Anchorage.
Teuber is also the CEO of the Kodiak Area Native Association. At last discovery, he was earning $540,000 a year at KANA, a salary that was, like his salary at ANTHC, largely paid for by tax dollars.
KANA, which is a Native health organization, has revenues of $35,067,111 and expenses of about $30 million.
Between the two organizations, Teuber was pulling down nearly $2 million a year running Medicaid programs for Alaska Natives. He didn’t make nearly as much until Gov. Bill Walker delivered Medicaid expansion to Native health groups in Alaska.
Although no further information has been released officially from the ANTHC organization, sources say there are computer hard drives that may have been physically destroyed at the ANTHC, and they may be related to Teuber’s departure.
The new CEO for ANTHC is Garvin Federenko, who was chief financial officer of the organization and who has been with ANTHC since 1998. The fact that the organization quickly promoted Federenko indicates the scandal may not be related to Medicaid fiscal malpractice.
In fact, there may be very little need for Medicaid fraud, since Medicaid money is flowing so freely there’s hardly a need for fraud. Native health organizations bill both Indian Health Service and Medicaid, but Medicaid is billed more freely, as there is no cap on spending.
Others who are on the executive team at ANTHC include former Commissioner of Health and Social Services Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson, who is also is president of Alaska Pacific University. Davidson, who pushed for Medicaid expansion under Gov. Walker, oversees the ANTHC educational programs, including the Community Health Aide program, the Dental Health Aide Therapy program and the Behavioral Health Aide program. Davidson briefly became lieutenant governor in late 2018 after the scandalous resignation of Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott.
Ethan Schutt is also one of the high-profile executives at ANTHC. Schutt served in leadership positions with Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI) in Anchorage, Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks, and on the Doyon, Limited board of directors from 2003 to 2006. He serves on a number of local boards, including the boards of Covenant House, Alaska and the Resource Development Council.
Just six months ago, Roald Helgesen left ANTHC, where he had headed up the Alaska Native Medical Center. He has moved on to become chief operating officer for Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska.
Unrelated to troubles at ANTHC, Katherine Gottlieb left as the CEO of Southcentral Foundation in August, after her husband was fired from the organization. The two of them had worked at the foundation for over 30 years.
