Norwalk Named Acting Director of CMS

A lawyer who has served in two Bush administrations has been named the acting chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to the Associated Press.
   Leslie Norwalk, 40, has served on the senior leadership team at the agency for the past five years, currently as the deputy administrator. She will succeed Mark McClellan, who recently announced that he is stepping down. Norwalk will assume the acting administrator role effective October 15.
   As the acting director, Norwalk will oversee the government health care programs for the elderly and the poor. The agency is responsible for $1 out of every $3 spent on health care in the United States.
   “She is a nationally recognized expert on Medicare issues and played a central role in the successful implementation of the prescription drug benefit and other reforms to Medicare and Medicaid,” said Mike Leavitt, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.
   Prior to joining CMS, Norwalk practiced law in the Washington office of Epstein, Becker and Green. She also served in the first Bush administration within the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.