Dan Liljenquist, JD

The Bain Strategist Inside Intermountain

Chief Strategy Officer, Intermountain Health

Hospital System Strategy / Medicare AdvantageSalt Lake City, UT· Member, confirmed on the Nov. 9, 2026 agenda

Last verified November 6, 2026

Overview

A Bain-trained strategist who wrote Utah's Medicaid growth cap as a state legislator, the first state Medicaid cap in the nation, then became chief strategist for Intermountain Health, one of the nation's largest nonprofit systems. Intermountain owns SelectHealth, a Medicare Advantage insurer with more than a million members, and Castell, which earned $86.7 million in Medicare ACO savings in 2023. He leads the committee's Reducing Administrative Burden working group, whose recommendations go to a vote on November 9, 2026, while his employer profits directly from the Medicare Advantage contracts the committee also advises on. Intermountain kept expanding through 2026: a Denver joint venture with AdventHealth formally signed by August and a $1.15 billion deal for a southeast Idaho hospital network announced in July.

Since March 2026

What has changed

July 21, 2026AdventHealth and Intermountain signed a letter of intent for a Denver-area joint venture managed by AdventHealth. It combines five AdventHealth hospitals and three Intermountain hospitals (Good Samaritan, Lutheran, Platte Valley). Intermountain reported the formal signing on Aug 6, 2026; close expected early 2027. source
July 24, 2026Intermountain announced plans to buy Surgery Partners' interests in a southeast Idaho network (Mountain View Hospital, Idaho Falls Community Hospital, 60+ clinics); Surgery Partners valued the deal at about $1.15 billion. Not closed as of the report. source
October 6, 2026Utah's Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy signed a master agreement with Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health to test AI tools; Liljenquist, as chief strategy officer, spoke at the announcement. source

Career arc

Professional timeline

Current

Chief Strategy Officer

Intermountain Health

2009–2011

Utah State Senator, R

2012

US Senate primary candidate, Utah

2001–2003

Management Consultant

Bain & Company Dallas

Business interests and affiliations

•Intermountain Health: $15B+ nonprofit, 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, 3,800+ physicians.
•SelectHealth: Intermountain's MA insurer, 1M+ members in UT, ID, NV, CO.
•Castell: Intermountain's ACO, $86.7M Medicare savings in 2023, paid $44M of it out in shared savings.
•Civica Rx: architect and board chair. Nonprofit generic drug company, 80 medications, 1,500+ hospitals.
•Graphite Health: nonprofit health data interoperability platform, board chair.
•UnitedHealthcare ACO partnership for MA members.
•Federal lobbying: $230,000 in 2024. InterMountain PAC: $227,572 in 2024 cycle.

Red flags

Conflicts and concerns

The MA conflict is the most material. Intermountain owns SelectHealth (MA insurer) and Castell ($86.7M in Medicare savings), and the committee votes on Medicare Advantage recommendations on Nov. 9, 2026. He leads the Reducing Administrative Burden group; every recommendation on paperwork and payment affects Intermountain revenue.

Oversaw Intermountain's Government Relations team running the $230K/year federal lobbying operation: then moved to advise the agency being lobbied.

As Utah state senator, wrote Medicaid cap legislation, then went to work for a system that collects that Medicaid revenue. Classic revolving door, executed with sophistication.

Dual role: chaired Civica Rx while serving as top strategist for one of its founding member organizations.

Physician-owned hospitals

Intermountain is exactly the type of large nonprofit system whose market dominance was protected by the Section 6001 POH ban. No public statements from Liljenquist on physician-owned hospitals were found. His advisory role on MA policy directly serves Intermountain's SelectHealth MA revenue.

Sources