CMS Administrator Seema Verma to speak at HIMSS18

The federal official and long-time industry consultant has worked with states to implement provisions of the ACA and called for more Medicaid flexibility and reduced burden on doctors.

By Bernie Monegain

January 22, 2018

12:42 PM

HIMSS announced that Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will speak at the HIMSS18 conference.

Verma joins other HIMSS18 speakers including former Google chairman Eric Schmidt, NBA legend Magic Johnson, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, MD, Defense Health Agency Director Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, and others.

[Also: VA Secretary David Shulkin to keynote HIMSS18]

Verma was sworn in as the 15th Administrator of CMS on March 14, 2017. Prior to that, she founded and served as CEO of SVC, Inc., a national health policy consultant that worked with Indiana and other states to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act implementation.

Verma has been involved with healthcare policy in both the public and private sector for more than 20 years, with a focus on Medicaid programs. As the architect of the Healthy Indiana Plan, working with then Indiana Governor and now Vice President Mike Pence, she helped to build what the state describes as a consumer-directed Medicaid program.

As CMS administrator, Verma has called for making Medicaid more flexible at the state level, reducing the administrative burden on doctors, and she has worked to scale back mandatory bundled payments, a move that pleased many healthcare providers.

Verma earned a Master’s degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s in Life Sciences from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Her Views from the Top session is slated for 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. March 6 at the Venetian - Sands Expo Center in Palazzo K.