CMS announces new director for Center of Medicare

Photo courtesy of Contessa Health

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced this week that Dr. Meena Seshamani will serve as Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare. 

Seshamani will lead the center in its stated goal of serving people 65 or older, people with disabilities and people with end-stage renal disease who rely on Medicare coverage. Seshamani started in the role officially on Tuesday.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

She most recently served as vice president of clinical care transformation at MedStar Health, where she designed and implemented population health and value-based care initiatives, and served on the senior leadership of the 10-hospital, 300+ outpatient care site health system. 

The care models and service lines she oversaw – including community health, geriatrics and palliative care – have been nationally recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, said CMS. She also cared for patients as an assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Seshamani also is experienced in policy, having recently served on the leadership of the Biden-Harris transition HHS agency review team. Prior to MedStar Health, she was director of the office of health reform at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she drove strategy and led implementation of the Affordable Care Act across the department, including coverage policy, delivery system reform and public health policy.

She received her B.A. with honors in business economics from Brown University, her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and her Ph.D. in health economics from the University of Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar. She completed her residency training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and practiced as a head and neck surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco.

THE LARGER TREND

The announcement of Seshamani as head of the Center for Medicare comes on the heels of CMS' recent announcement of Daniel Tsai as Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS). 

With 80 million people receiving health coverage through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Tsai will lead the center's efforts in addressing disparities in health equity and serving the needs of children, pregnant people, parents, seniors and individuals with disabilities who rely on these programs, CMS said last week. Like Seshamani, Tsai began on Tuesday.

ON THE RECORD

"Dr. Meena Seshamani brings her diverse background as a healthcare executive, health economist, physician and health policy expert to CMS," said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. "Providing quality healthcare to the people who rely on Medicare and advancing health equity as we do it is a priority for CMS. I am delighted to say Dr. Seshamani will bring her unique perspective on how health policy impacts the real lives of patients to her leadership role as Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare."
 

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com