Next CMS Chief Will Face ‘Major Issues’ From the Start, Former Agency Heads Say

The next CMS 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 secretaries, The Hill 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; Avalere Health President Dan Mendelson; Robert Berenson, a scholar at the Urban Institute; Judy Feder, a professor at Georgetown University; and Ken Thorpe, a professor at Emory University.

Tommy Thompson, a former HHS secretary and a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, said, "That's going to be an extremely, extremely important position."

Tom Scully -- a former CMS administrator, senior counsel at Alton & Bird and a general partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe -- 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, 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 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 at the Brookings Institution, added, "You really need to keep the entire agency staff moving along" (Young, The Hill, 12/9).