HHS, CMS announce 18-member advisory committee to review Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and marketplaces
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Summary
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday announced an 18-member volunteer advisory committee, selected from more than 400 applicants, to recommend ways to cut costs, reduce bureaucracy and improve quality across major federal health programs. The panel will convene later this year.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Mehmeda, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced formation of a new health care advisory committee that will develop recommendations aimed at improving Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the federal health insurance marketplaces.
"I'm so proud of the team that we've assembled," Kennedy said, noting HHS reviewed more than 400 candidates and selected 18 members from state and federal government, health system management, nonprofits and health technology innovation.
Dr. Mehmeda framed the panel’s purpose more specifically: the committee will advise the secretary and the CMS administrator on steps intended to cut costs, reduce administrative red tape and improve quality of care while maintaining the solvency of covered programs and refocusing health care on patients. "And that's why today, we are announcing the members of our new health care advisory committee," Dr. Mehmeda said.
Officials said the selected members bring experience across a broad set of topics, including artificial intelligence and rural health care, mental health and disability services, aging, pharmaceutical supply chains, finance and biomedical research. HHS highlighted the mix of state and federal experience as well as private-sector and nonprofit backgrounds.
Dr. Mehmeda also named health author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins as a committee member, noting Robbins has advised celebrities, business executives, athletes and a U.S. president. Kennedy emphasized the panel will serve on a volunteer basis.
The department said the advisory group will convene for the first time later this year and produce recommendations intended to be actionable for the secretary and the CMS administrator. Officials closed the briefing by thanking attendees and noting the announcement was produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The committee’s membership list and timeline for deliverables were not specified in the briefing.
