Press Releases

CMS Welcomes New Leadership Team, Makes Additional Staffing Announcement

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced several new additions to the agency’s leadership team, as well as changes to the portfolios of senior staff in the Office of the Administrator. Since arriving in March 2017, Administrator Seema Verma has been committed to building an experienced and well-qualified team with a broad range of backgrounds and expertise. Today, Administrator Verma welcomes Paul Mango as CMS’s Chief Principal Deputy Administrator and Chief of Staff and Chris Traylor as the agency’s Deputy Administrator for Strategic Initiatives. In addition, the Administrator promoted Deputy Chief of Staff Brady Brookes to Deputy Administrator and Deputy Chief of Staff. 

“President Trump and Secretary Azar have laid out an ambitious agenda to strengthen the Medicare and Medicaid programs for the millions of Americans they serve. This is a big responsibility and my team will have a critical role to play to help accomplish these goals,” said Administrator Verma. “That is why I am pleased to welcome two distinguished and experienced leaders that not only have a wealth of knowledge managing complex healthcare issues, but also have hands-on experience at the local level in the practice and implementation of policy. These new additions will further strengthen our executive team and will help deliver on the promises made by the Trump Administration to better serve the American people.” 

Paul Mango joins the Office of the Administrator as the Chief Principal Deputy Administrator and Chief of Staff. Paul comes to CMS after a long and successful career at McKinsey & Company as a Senior Partner and also having filled additional leadership roles within their U.S. and global healthcare practices and as the head of McKinsey’s U.S. Center for Health Reform. He is a veteran of the 82^nd Airborne Division and a graduate of U.S. Army Ranger School; the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was a Distinguished Cadet; and of Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. He has been active in community and civic causes including a run for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2017, and as a board member of HM3 Partner Independence Fund, a foundation helping veterans, first responders and youth. Paul brings more than thirty years of experience in the healthcare industry that will prove invaluable in his role supporting Administrator Verma in the fulfillment of the agency’s mission.  

Chris Traylor joins the Office of the Administrator as the Deputy Administrator for Strategic Initiatives. Chris comes to CMS with over 26 years of public sector service in the area of healthcare and social services. His lengthy public service career in Texas concluded in 2016 when he retired as the Executive Commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) after previously serving as the commission’s Chief Deputy Executive Commissioner. Earlier public service roles in Texas include a two-year term leading the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) and as the state’s Medicaid director for over three years. Under his leadership at Medicaid, Texas developed health passports for children in foster care and also expanded a managed model of care that integrated acute and long-term care services for Texans who are elderly or have disabilities. Since 2016, Chris has been leading a healthcare consulting firm serving clients in hospital operations and finance, long term services and supports, dental and oral health services, managed care and bio-health. His experience and expertise put him at the forefront of legislative innovation, reform, and regulation which will be instrumental to his new role at CMS.  

“President Trump promised the American people a government that works for them with the efficiency of a successful business. Bringing highly qualified healthcare experts on board like Paul Mango will help deliver on that vision,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “The skills of top private sector innovators like Paul will complement the deep public sector experience and expertise of CMS staff like Administrator Verma and new Deputy Administrator Chris Traylor. The new additions to the team will help CMS build on its progress on HHS priorities, including value-based transformation and increasing consumer choice for healthcare coverage.” 

Administrator Verma also promoted Brady Brookes, CMS’s current Deputy Chief of Staff to a concurrent role as Deputy Administrator. In this position, Brady will continue to oversee day-to-day operations and provide strategic counsel to the Office of the Administrator. Brady joined CMS in 2017 as Deputy Chief of Staff after serving as then-Governor Mike Pence’s Legislative Director. 

“I am excited to augment our already experienced executive team at CMS,” said Administrator Verma. “I have known Paul for more than 10 years and look forward to having his support as we deliver on President Trump’s agenda and execute on our strategy on behalf of the American people. I believe CMS is headed into the future with an even greater ability to make positive change.” 

These new CMS staff additions build upon a leadership team at the agency that has made tremendous progress working to strengthen a non-sustainable healthcare system in need of major reform. This work includes: 

• Launching Medicare’s Blue Button 2.0, a new and secure way for Medicare beneficiaries to access and share their personal health data in a universal digital format. 
• Creating the MyHealthEData initiative, designed to empower patients around a common aim - giving every American control of their medical data. 
• Publishing for the first time state Medicaid and CHIP quality metrics, along with federally reported measures, in a Scorecard format to increase transparency and focus on outcomes.
• Releasing several new policies that improve federal and state program management, including improvements in the review, approval process, and monitoring of 1115 Demonstrations and Medicaid and CHIP state plan amendments (SPA) and 1915 waivers.
• Developing the Meaningful Measures initiative, focusing on high value measures that are outcome-oriented. CMS included proposals around Meaningful Measures in nearly every payment rule (FY and CY) in 2018 which would remove over 70 measures. 
• Creating the Patients Over Paperwork initiative, a fundamental reform program to remove regulatory obstacles that get in the way of providers spending time with patients.  
• Launching a new direction for the Innovation Center, issuing a Request for Information to solicit ideas for new payment models from innovators and experts on the front lines, because we know that the best ideas do not always come from Washington, DC.
• Issuing policies from the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) that gave states flexibility and greater control of their health insurance markets to help consumers faced with rising costs.
• Providing relief every day from the rising costs of drugs, a top priority for President Trump.
• Utilizing Medicare Fee For Service payment rules to further the agency’s priority of creating a patient-driven healthcare system by achieving greater price transparency, interoperability, and significant burden reduction.
• Organizing the mailing of New Medicare Cards to beneficiaries, removing Social Security numbers from cards in order to prevent fraud, fight identity theft and keep taxpayer dollars safe. 
• Launching a nationwide program to better target medical review and put an emphasis on education and assistance in correcting claims errors.