Quapaw leader praises nominee despite claims of misrepresentation

Jan. 10--The chairman of a local Indian tribe and a federal department stand by a nominee whose credentials were questioned in a newspaper report last week.

A report in Friday's Wall Street Journal called into question the credentials of Robert Weaver, a Quapaw tribe member who has been nominated by President Donald Trump to lead Indian Health Services, a division of the department of Health and Human Services responsible for providing personal and public health services to American Indian and Alaska Native people.

"He's the right guy," said Quapaw tribe Chairman John Berrey. "Indian Health Services is in dire need of a fresh mind, and he's the guy to help get them out of the dark ages."

The Wall Street Journal report focused on his tenure working for what now is Mercy Hospital Joplin between 1997 and 2006. The hospital was known as St. John's Regional Medical Center before Mercy acquired it in 2009. According to a publicly available copy of Weaver's resume, the member of the Quapaw tribe worked in various hospital administration positions, "including managing all accounts receivable, budgets, patient access and physician recruitment."

Two former employees of the hospital quoted in the Journal report -- Augusto Noronha, chief financial officer from 1999 to 2005; and Wanye Noethe, a former controller -- said they did not remember working with Weaver in any capacity. Bob Henderson, former director of patient financial services, said he recalled the name, but said that person worked a position considered "entry-level," according to the the Journal report.

The one agency that might confirm Weaver's claims is unable to do so. Christina Rockhold, a spokesperson for the hospital, said that the hospital's human resources department cannot verify that Weaver was employed with the hospital because of records being lost in the 2011 tornado that destroyed St. John's Regional Medical Center.

The hospital was able to confirm the employment of Noronha and Noethe, however. When asked if anyone currently working at the hospital could confirm Weaver's employment, the hospital provided no names.

"Our (human resources) policy is to confirm employment dates," Rockhold said in an email. "Beyond that, we must protect the privacy of our current and former co-workers."

An attempt to reach Weaver through RWI Benefits, a business Weaver founded, was also not returned. Caitlyn Oakley, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said Weaver would not be available for interviews until his nomination has been completed.

Oakley sent a packet of information to the Globe that appears to include the same information featured in the Journal report, including a written statement from former Mercy chief nursing officer Dottie Bringle. The statement confirmed that Weaver worked in various leadership roles at the hospital during Bringle's tenure.

In the statement, Bringle said she gave Weaver her full support for the position.

Oakley did not respond to a follow-up email from the Globe asking whether the Journal's report caused any re-evaluation of Weaver's nomination.

The Journal also reported that Weaver was recommended by U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., for the post. Multiple requests for a statement from Mullin's office were not answered.

As of Tuesday night, Berrey remained one of the few people willing to talk about Weaver. Berrey said he worked with Weaver all the time and found him "very conscientious."

Berrey said he worked with Weaver primarily through RWI Consulting and RWI Benefits. According to his resume, Weaver said the first business was focused on finding misallocations of funds and cost savings for tribe members, and the second business became a health insurance provider for tribal members.

According to a 2016 report from Indian Country News, Weaver was brought in to help weigh health care proposals at a time when tribal council members were focused on opening Downstream Casino and Resort. Weaver's work resulted in writing his own bid, to demonstrate what tribal members should seek, but instead, tribal members offered him a job.

According to its website, RWI Benefits since 2007 has provided health care services to more than 20,000 tribal members and employees over the past 10 years.

If confirmed, Weaver will face funding challenges to Indian Health Services. Weaver in 2016 said the department has never been funded completely, according to the Indian Country News report.

Berrey said Weaver negotiates a lot of the tribe's insurance-related contracts and does a wonderful job. If it turns out that Weaver misrepresented his experience at Mercy, Berrey said the work he has seen Weaver do firsthand was excellent enough to still deserve the nomination. He said the Journal report was flawed and politically motivated.

"The way it reads to me, whether the Journal is a conservative paper or not, is that it sounds like a hack job by Democrats," Berrey said. "I'm sticking with my words. (Weaver) is the right guy, and the department needs a young person like him to turn around its archaic reputation."

___

(c)2018 The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.)

Visit The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.) at www.joplinglobe.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.