The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has a new director.
Adam Boehler, founder and former chief executive officer of home health provider Landmark Health, was named CMMI director — a position that also comes with the title of deputy administrator — by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Azar has pointed to the CMMI, which serves as a kind of sandbox for new payment models among providers and the government, as a key agent of change moving forward. Speaking to the Federation of American Hospitals last month, Azar said the CMMI gives HHS “tremendous power to experiment with new payment models,” which he also identified as a main goal for his tenure.
“Simply put, I don’t intend to spend the next several years tinkering with how to build the very best joint-replacement bundle,” Azar said. “We want to look at bold measures that will fundamentally reorient how Medicare and Medicaid pay for care, and create a true competitive playing field where value is rewarded handsomely.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse also praised the work of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and CMMI in a March letter to Azar that urged him to investigate and develop new payment models while moving away from fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare.
“Leading health care experts and private sector partners strongly support these ideas, are supportive of CMS’s leadership role, and are willing to provide thoughtful advice on metrics and goals for payment and delivery system reform,” the senators wrote.
In addition to his experience with Landmark, new CMMI director Boehler founded Avalon Health Solutions, a laboratory benefit management firm, and Trellis Rx, an operator of specialty pharmacies. Boehler was also an operating partner at Francisco Partners, a health care-focused private equity firm.
He joins a raft of other appointments to executive positions made last week at HHS, including new acting assistant secretary for administration Heather Flick and senior advisor for drug pricing reform Dan Best.
Written by Alex Spanko
Companies featured in this article:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMMI, CMS, Department of Health and Human Services
