UPDATE: Feb. 19, 2021: President Joe Biden nominated Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as CMS administrator Friday. Trade groups AdvaMed and MDMA both called her a well-qualified pick for the role.
Dive Brief:
- President Joe Biden has picked Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as his nominee for CMS administrator, several news outlets reported, citing anonymous sources in the administration. Brooks-LaSure worked at the agency in the Obama administration and was considered a top contender for the role.
- Brooks-LaSure has most recently been an adviser on Medicare and Medicaid policy at law firm Manatt. Within CMS she held the position of deputy director for policy at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.
- AdvaMed in a statement backed the nomination, noting the newly finalized rule that gives developers of FDA-designated breakthrough potential products to sell and be reimbursed for new devices for the 60 million Medicare beneficiaries on the day of market approval, something the industry has been pushing for years.
Dive Insight:
The next CMS administrator will have a lot on their plate. Biden during his campaign ran on expanding the role of the Affordable Care Act and perhaps attempting to build in a public option or lowered Medicare age eligibility.
They will also, of course, be maneuvering the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, including tackling which regulations rolled back during the public health emergency might be made permanent to ease telehealth use.
Brooks-LaSure began her public service career as a Medicaid analyst for the Office of Management and Budget, according to a Manatt biography, which also states she worked there with clients "across the public and private sectors." That could be an issue considering Biden's ethics pledge, which bans participation "in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to" former clients.
She has also served as HHS director of coverage policy. She also worked for Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, where she worked closely with Biden's nominee for HHS secretary, Xavier Becerra, who was a member of the committee at the time.
Avalere CEO Dan Mendelson, who has worked with Brooks-LaSure, had high praise for the choice. "Chiquita has very broad experience at CMS, and also has experience in the major governmental organizations where CMS collaborates," he said. "She is also an outstanding listener which combined with her experience will help her succeed."
Mendelson said Brooks-LaSure has "an excellent relationship" with Becerra, "which is critically important." That would be a change from the previous administration, where former HHS Secretary Alex Azar and ex-CMS Administrator Seema Verma were reported to have a frosty relationship.
Becerra's confirmation hearings are schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday in the Senate health and finance committees, respectively.
The CMS administrator will also require Senate confirmation, but the Democrats' slim control of the body should assure that for Biden's nominee.
Brooks-LaSure is also on the board of Fair Health, which collects and analyzes claims data and argues for more price transparency in healthcare.
In March, she co-authored an article in Health Affairs discussing policies for bolstering the ACA, such as incentivizing states to expand Medicaid through an extended enhanced federal match rate.
The article also suggests increasing eligibility for premium tax credits and endorses a public option, which Biden has also supported. She has argued elsewhere in support of a Medicare buy-in, including in congressional testimony.
