The Biden administration this week moved closer to installing its top health care leaders, with reports of an upcoming pick for the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and a set confirmation hearing date for its nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
President Biden will select Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead CMS, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing four unnamed sources.
Brooks-LaSure, a managing director at consulting and advisory firm Manatt Health, had already emerged as the frontrunner for the role according to a report in Politico. Her appointment has not been formally announced, but Brooks-LaSure boasts prior experience at CMS and HHS under President Obama; she also served on Biden’s transition team, according to the Post.
Xavier Becerra, the current attorney general of California and Biden’s pick to lead HHS, will face the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee next Tuesday for his confirmation hearing.
Biden advanced Becerra’s nomination in early December, more than a month before he took office, but Republicans slow-walked the confirmation proceedings, citing concerns about Becerra’s lack of direct health care experience and his support for access to abortion and contraception.
Brooks-LaSure would also require Senate confirmation before taking over at CMS.
Both leadership roles have been filled on an acting basis since the departure of former HHS head Alex Azar and former CMS administrator Seema Verma at the conclusion of the Trump administration.
