CMS Expected to Announce New Leader for Innovation Center

Throughout 2019, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), housed within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has shown interested in pushing federal policy towards value-based payments rather than traditional fee-for-service models. While this focus has been more centered on Medicare programs, ANCOR has been monitoring these proposals for potential relevance to Medicaid. It is for this reason that we are reporting on recent leadership developments at CMMI.

As reported by Politico Pulse:

“FIRST IN PULSE: BRAD SMITH TO TAKE THE REINS AT CMMI — The Trump administration is set to unveil the new head of the CMS innovation center, three individuals tell POLITICO’s Dan Diamond and Adam Cancryn. The job’s been filled on an acting basis by career staffer Amy Bassano for more than two months.

CMS declined to comment that Smith was chosen to lead the center.

POLITICO first reported that Smith was the favored candidate to lead the influential center. Smith’s a former Rhodes scholar and McKinsey consultant who held a high-level economic development job in Tennessee under former Gov. Bill Haslam and was a staffer for former Sen. Bob Corker. Like former CMS Innovation Center chief Adam Boehler, he’s also a successful entrepreneur: The Tennessean reported that a palliative care company Smith co-founded, Aspire Health, was sold to Anthem for an estimated $440 million last year.”