The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as next administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The agency had been without an official leader since former CMS head Seema Verma stepped down in January.
The nomination was approved by a narrow 55-44 margin, with just four Republicans voting to confirm. Those senators included Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
“This is clearly one of the most important health care jobs in America,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said earlier in the week.
Brooks-LaSure is a former policy official who played a key role in guiding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through passage and implementation under the Obama administration. She most recently served as a managing director at consulting firm Manatt Health, where she helped clients understand regulatory and legislative policies related to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.
In a statement shared with Home Health Care News, National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) President Bill Dombi said Brooks-LaSure brings “solid experience” to “a very difficult job.”
“Over the years, she has demonstrated a high degree of capability and the versatility to handle the wide range of matters that occur in Medicare and Medicaid,” Dombi said. “We look forward to working with her to expand access to home- and community-based services and make the home the center of health care.”
In addition to the previously mentioned experience, Brooks-LaSure is the first Black woman to lead CMS since its creation nearly six decades ago. The agency’s new leader has made it clear she plans on using that personal perspective to guide efforts aimed at lessening the immense health care disparities that exist in the U.S.
“During my career, I’ve seen how communities of color too often experience worse health outcomes, which we’ve seen so acutely during this pandemic,” Brooks-LaSure said at an April confirmation hearing. “My own hometown, a predominantly Black community where my parents still live, experienced higher rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths compared to much of the surrounding communities.”
Biden originally nominated Brooks-LaSure in February. For context, Verma was confirmed to lead CMS on March 13, 2017.
In part, the confirmation delay was due to a partisan battle that began when the Biden administration withdrew a special Medicaid waiver in Texas. Republicans — particularly Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — saw the move as a way to coerce the state into expanding Medicaid under (ACA).
“Senator Cornyn placed the hold after the Biden administration decided to play political chicken with uninsured Texans’ health care,” a Cornyn spokesperson told The Hill in April. “He’s requested additional information from the nominee and the administration about how they plan to ensure our most vulnerable Texans don’t lose their health care because of their actions.”
Brooks-LaSure takes over at CMS during a pivotal time, as the government attempts to chart a course toward new types of post-acute care and senior care landscapes.
In the home health space, that includes a potential expansion of the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model. It also includes a possible revisioning of the relatively restrictive home health benefit itself.
On top of those tasks, Brooks-LaSure will have to help CMS figure out which COVID-19 flexibilities should become permanent, such as more allowances for telehealth technologies.
CMS — an agency that directs more than $1 trillion in annual funding — will likewise need to continue evaluating the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) and any necessary changes to its methodology.
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