Four updates on CMS:
1. President Joe Biden is prepared to nominate Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, a former policy official in the Obama administration, to lead CMS. She previously oversaw the ACA implementation. Click here for the full story.
2. Politico reported Feb. 19 that the Biden administration picked Liz Fowler to lead the CMS Innovation Center. She spent time at HHS during the Obama administration and was a member of the team that implemented the ACA and has experience as executive vice president at Commonwealth Fund. Click here to read the full report.
3. CMS will cut Medicare payments to 774 hospitals in the 2021 fiscal year for having the highest rates of patient infections and injuries. Click here for the full report.
4. There was a 51 percent decrease in outpatient Medicare claims in April 2020, according to a Feb. 9 report from Avalere. Click here for the full report.