White House Senior Policy Advisor John Barkett Joins BRG’s Healthcare Practice in DC

BRG announced today that John Barkett has joined the firm as a Washington, DC-based managing director in its Healthcare Transactions and Strategy practice. Most recently, he served in the Biden administration as Senior Policy Advisor for Health Care Delivery System Reform at the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he was instrumental in the design of new drug-pricing policies enacted by Congress in 2022 as well as reform of Medicare Advantage, Part D, and other Medicare payment policies.

At BRG, Barkett will assume a senior role in a team that advises health plans, healthcare providers, life sciences companies and healthcare investors on a range of issues including analysis and development of public policy, corporate strategy and M&A transactions. He will have a particular focus on expanding BRG’s public policy capabilities.

“The breadth and depth of John’s expertise in this sector—not to mention his prolific DC experience—will be an invaluable asset to BRG clients operating in any number of areas in the healthcare industry,” said Tri MacDonald, BRG’s principal executive officer and president. “As regulatory shifts continue to ratchet up the pressure on deals in this space, our clients will take comfort knowing a public-policy expert like John is in their corner.”

Barkett is a recognized thought leader and innovator in healthcare public policy, with 20 years of industry experience in both the private sector and government. He began his government career on the Health Subcommittee staff of the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives in 2009, before moving to the Office of Health Reform in the Department of Health and Human Services. In those roles, he helped with the design and implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

From there, Barkett joined a Silicon Valley startup operating the nation’s largest private Medicare exchange. After the startup was acquired by a large benefits and actuarial consulting firm in 2012, Barkett served as the firm’s senior director of Policy Affairs, where he tracked regulatory and policy changes impacting retiree benefit strategies and helped plan sponsors adapt to these changes. In 2020, he returned to public service as a Senior Policy Advisor in the White House.

“We are excited to welcome John to BRG and our team of healthcare policy experts,” said Michael Sullivan, BRG’s Healthcare Transactions and Strategy practice co-leader. “For the past 20 years, John has had a front-row seat to the most significant transformations in our healthcare system—from the ACA to the growth of Medicare to drug pricing—and we’re thrilled to have him anchor our work in DC and beyond.”

“BRG has a reputation for providing the nuanced, policy-focused and data-driven counsel that healthcare organizations need right now,” said Barkett. “I look forward to drawing on my time in both the public and private sectors to support the firm’s clients and help drive the firm’s continued expansion in the DC market.”

Barkett is a graduate of Harvard University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. From the campus of the latter, he hosted a weekly Sirius XM radio show, The Business of Health Care, from 2015 to 2018.