President José Antonio Kast's government used one of its 'silver bullets' to directly appoint lawyer Fernando Riveros as the new superintendent of the Health Superintendency. Riveros, with prior experience in the agency, officially presented himself at the institution's facilities this Wednesday.
The government of José Antonio Kast announced on Saturday that it would exclude the Health Superintendency superintendent position from the Senior Public Management system, allowing direct appointment via one of the 12 'silver bullets' available to the Executive. The corresponding decree was issued on Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning Fernando Riveros visited the Health Superintendency offices to officially present himself in his new role, after a decade away from the agency where he had previously served as fiscal twice: before 2005 at the former Isapres Superintendency and from 2011 to 2014 during Sebastián Piñera's first government. A graduate of the Pontificia Universidad Católica, Riveros holds postgraduate degrees in service management from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, economic administrative law from PUC, and other studies from Universidad del Desarrollo and Universidad Alberto Hurtado. He also served as head of the Legal Division at the Gambling Superintendency, specializing in anti-money laundering and terrorism financing policies. At his firm LFR Estudio Legal, where he is a partner, he emphasizes experience in administrative law, health sector regulation and oversight, including private insurances and health providers. He taught in the Master's in Health Administration and Management at Universidad de Chile from 2015 to 2019. Víctor Torres vacated the position on March 11, when Kast took office as president. Initially, Jorge Dip Calderón acted as interim, but the succession order was later changed, with María Mercedes Jeria leading the agency until Riveros's appointment.
