Norwalk Named Acting CMS Administrator

BALTIMORE–CMS Deputy Administrator Leslie Norwalk will become
the interim head of the agency when Administrator Mark McClellan
leaves his post this month.

Named as acting administrator by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt,
Norwalk has served in positions including chief operating officer,
acting director of the Center for Beneficiary Choices and counselor
to former Administrator Thomas Scully since joining CMS five years
ago. After Scully’s departure, Norwalk remained as the agency lead
in carrying out Medicare reform legislation. She assumes her new
duties Oct. 15.

“I am committed to a stable, seamless transition and will work
to move forward as quickly as possible,” Norwalk wrote in an e-mail
to CMS staff last week.

Norwalk also announced in the e-mail that Herb Kuhn will become
acting deputy administrator of CMS. For the past two years, Kuhn
has served as director of the Center for Medicare Management, where
he has been responsible for developing reimbursement policies and
regulations for the Medicare program.

Before joining CMS, Norwalk practiced law in the Washington
office of Epstein Becker & Green and served in the first Bush
administration in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.
She earned a juris doctor degree from the George Mason University
School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in economics and
international relations from Wellesley College.

Kuhn is a former corporate vice president for advocacy at
Premier Inc., a not-for profit hospital alliance. He also served in
the American Hospital Association’s Washington office as vice
president for federal relations and has worked on Capitol Hill in
the office of former Rep. Bob Whittaker, R-Kan.

Last month, McClellan said he was resigning from CMS (see
HomeCare Monday, Sept. 11) but has yet
to announce his plans after he leaves the agency.