[NYAPRS Enews] MNT: Next CMS Chief To Face 'Major Issues', Former Agency Heads Say

[Matt Canuteson]

Next CMS Chief Will Face 'Major Issues' From The Start, Former Agency
Heads Say


Medical News Today December 11th 2008

   
The next CMS <http://www.cms.hhs.gov/>  administrator "from day one"
will have to address a number of major national health care issues that
likely will include significant changes to Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP,
according to several former agency administrators and HHS
<http://www.hhs.gov/>  secretaries, The Hill
<http://thehill.com/business--lobby/next-medicare-chief-faces-big-challe
nges-2008-12-09.html>  reports. In addition, the next CMS administrator,
whom President-elect Barack Obama has not yet nominated, will have to
manage an agency that has 4,400 employees, a $676 billion annual budget
and the responsibility to provide health insurance to 44.6 million
Medicare beneficiaries, 51 million Medicaid beneficiaries and 6.3
million SCHIP beneficiaries. The next CMS administrator also will work
with Obama and the next HHS secretary, likely to be former Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), in efforts to the reform the U.S.
health care system. 

According to The Hill, "[a]mong the names thought to be under
consideration" for CMS administrator include Jeanne Lambrew, a member of
the Obama transition team and a senior fellow at the Center for American
Progress <http://www.americanprogress.org/> ; Avalere Health
<http://www.avalerehealth.net/>  President Dan Mendelson; Robert
Berenson, a scholar at the Urban Institute <http://www.urban.org/> ;
Judy Feder, a professor at Georgetown University
<http://www.georgetown.edu/> ; and Ken Thorpe, a professor at Emory
University <http://www.emory.edu/> .



Tommy Thompson, a former HHS secretary and a partner at Akin, Gump,
Strauss, Hauer & Feld <http://www.akingump.com/> , said, "That's going
to be an extremely, extremely important position."

 

Tom Scully -- a former CMS administrator, senior counsel at Alton & Bird
<http://www.alston.com/>  and a general partner at Welsh, Carson,
Anderson & Stowe <http://www.welshcarson.com/>  -- said, "The challenges
of running that place are unbelievable in a slow time," adding, "It's
just a huge place."

 

 Gail Wilensky, a former CMS administrator and a senior fellow at
Project HOPE <http://www.projecthope.org/> , said, "It's a terrific job
because it marries policy and operations in a way almost no other
position does."

 

Mark McClellan, a former CMS administrator and a former FDA
<http://www.fda.gov/>  commissioner, said, "You need management skills
and leadership skills," as well as "experience in leading reform
efforts" in the public or private sector. 

 

McClellan, director of the Engelberg Center for Healthcare Reform
<http://www.brookings.edu/health.aspx>  at the Brookings Institution,
added, "You really need to keep the entire agency staff moving along"
(Young, The Hill, 12/9).

 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/132617.php

 

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