Chiquita Brooks-LaSure Becomes Next CMS Administrator

The Senate has confirmed Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by a vote of 55 to 44.

Brooks-LaSure is the first Black woman to lead the agency overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) since its establishment nearly six decades ago.

This is not Brooks-LaSure’s first time at CMS. She previously served as deputy director for policy at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight within the agency, and earlier at HHS as director of coverage policy where she led the agency’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Until recently, Brooks-LaSure served as managing director of Manatt Health. Now, she will serve as CMS Administrator as the agency faces a critical crossroads—healthcare in a post-pandemic world.

At her Senate confirmation hearing in April, Brooks-LaSure touched on her vision for CMS as it grapples with issues made worse by the pandemic, such as health inequity.

“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,” she said at the hearing. “Last year in April, my own hometown, a predominately black community where my parents still live, experienced higher rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths compared to much of the surrounding communities. If confirmed, I look forward to working with each of you to expand access to quality care for all communities.”

Brooks-LaSure has long advocated for health equity, discussing black maternal outcomes and opportunities.

“One of the biggest issues is really the focus is continuity of coverage,” she said in an interview with PatientEngagementHIT last year. “Because if you think about what happens when you add another person to your family, your income changes automatically.”

Other major issues brought up during the hearing included telehealth reimbursement post-pandemic, Medicaid waivers, prescription drug pricing legislation, 340B Drug Pricing Program, and whether the Medicare eligibility age should be lowered.

Medicaid waivers landed Brooks-LaSure in hot water before her confirmation, with Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) placing a hold on the hearing after the Biden administration rescinded the state’s Medicaid waiver. The waiver approved for a 10-year extension by the Trump administration provided over $11 billion in federal funding to help cover the costs of care for uninsured patients.

The Biden administration said it rescinded the approval issued on Jan. 15, 2021, because it did not go through the full federal rulemaking process. Some stakeholders have characterized the administration’s action as an effort to incent state officials to accept full Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

The administration’s decision influenced Cornyn’s decision to place a hold on the confirmation hearing.

“I met with her one day about the 1115 waiver, and said how important it was to my state,” Cornyn told STAT in an interview. “Then the next day, the Biden administration rescinded it, and it’s completely in bad faith and irresponsible.”

The issue contributed to the Senate Finance Committee voting along party lines in a 14 to 14 vote to move the confirmation to a full Senate vote without a recommendation for confirmation last month.

The nomination was closed yesterday with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting in line with Democrats to put the nomination to a vote.

The healthcare industry, however, has largely backed Brooks-LaSure as the next CMS Administrator, touting her experience with health policy and support of healthcare coverage and affordable care.

“We congratulate Ms. Brooks-LaSure on her historic confirmation," Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), said in a statement following the vote. "While the fight against COVID is not over, as the pandemic winds down we need to move forward on the broader health care agenda and I am confident our new Administrator is exceptionally equipped to provide the leadership that is crucial for CMS at this time and beyond."