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     *            US health executive offered top NHS role*

By Nicholas Timmins, Brooke Masters and Rebecca Knight

Published: April 30 2007 03:00 | Last updated: April 30 2007 03:00

An American executive with a lifetime's experience of paying for care in
the US health system has been offered the job of commercial director at
the Department of Health, overseeing the purchase of care for NHS
patients.

But the appointment ofR. Channing Wheeler, who is in the final stage of
negotiations ahead of an expected announcement this week, is likely to
be controversial as he has been caught up in the scandal of backdated
stock options in the US.

The appointment of a US big- hitter with extensive healthcare purchasing
experience is seen within the department as a clear signal of its
continued commitment to market-based reforms and to the use of the
private sector to treat and commission care for NHS patients.

His selection has been approved by Tony Blair, the prime minister, from
a short list that included other experienced US candidates.

The department has been encouraged by their apparent belief that there
is a job worth doing in the NHS.

Mr Wheeler, 55, was an executive vice-president of UnitedHealth Group,
which is still being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange
Commission over the alleged granting of backdated share options.

The scandal has brought down William McGuire, the former longstanding
chairman and chief executive of UnitedHealth, one of the largest US
managed-care providers.

Mr McGuire resigned after it was discovered that he and other executives
had repeatedly received stock options, meant to incentivise future
performance, that were granted at or near the lowest point of the share
price in each year they received them.

Mr Wheeler, who until 2004 was chief executive of Uniprise, the
UnitedHealth subsidiary that deals with some of the biggest US
companies, is alleged to have received grants of more than 409,000
options on similar dates to Mr McGuire between 1998 and 2002, according
to court papers filed in the US.

A civil action has been filed by public sector union shareholders in
UnitedHealth seeking $5.5m in damages from him over the share options.

The UK's health department is understood to have done due diligence on
the appointment and accepted that Mr Wheeler was unaware at the time
that the way the options were granted was questionable.

Mr Wheeler held executive positions with US health plans, while running
UnitedHealth's north-east region, before becoming chief executive of
Uniprise in 1998.

Karen Jennings, head of health for Unison, said: "The American health
system is riddled with fraud and we must protectour NHS from that sort
ofcorruption.

"UnitedHealth is trying to infiltrate the NHS, and it is worrying that
someone from that organisation is being favoured over an NHS or civil
service appointee."

Mr Wheeler did not return calls to his listed home address.

Copyright <http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright> The Financial
Times Limited 2007