Seema Verma, CMS administrator, to keynote PQA 2018 Annual Meeting

Seema Verma

BALTIMORE — Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will provide the opening keynote for the Pharmacy Quality Alliance’s 2018 Annual Meeting at the Hilton Baltimore next month.

Verma will speak e on Wednesday, May 16th at 3:30 pm and will highlight CMS’ efforts to advance quality, value-based care including the Patients Over Paperwork Initiative and Meaningful Measures initiative.

Verma is the 15th person confirmed be CMS administrator. She was nominated by President Trump on November 29, 2016 — the seventh nomination by the President-elect — and confirmed by the Senate on March 13, 2017. As administrator, Verma oversees a $1 trillion budget — 26% of the total federal budget — for health care programs for more than 130 million Americans every day.

A nationally recognized leader in health policy and operational design, she has guided health care policy in the public and private sector, working with states to build flexibility into their Medicaid programs to help them meet the diverse needs of their unique populations. As the architect of the historic Healthy Indiana Plan, she helped create and implement the nation’s first consumer-directed Medicaid program.

Verma previously served as vice president of planning for the Health & Hospital Corp. of Marion County, Ind. and most recently before heading CMS was president and CEO of Seema Verma Consulting. Her editorial commentaries have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Health Affairs.

Following Verma’s remarks, Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF) and Michael Heifetz, former Wisconsin Medicaid Director, will provide insights into their work with Medicaid programs and their unique national and state perspectives on how best to partner to address individuals’ social needs and increase collaboration between communities and health care providers to improve beneficiaries’ health.