CMMI Gets Former CEO of Home Health Company as New Director

The Trump administration has finalized a new director for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), CMS Administrator Seema Verma told staff via email last week.

Adam Boehler, the former CEO of Landmark Health, a home-based medical care company, will start as the director this week. His probable hiring was first reported by Politico in December; the report said the startup executive needed time to divest of certain investments.

The office was created by the Obama administration with the notion that it could pilot new ways for Medicare and Medicaid to pay for care to save money and make the healthcare system more efficient. However, it had drawn criticism for mandatory initiatives, such as bundled payment models, and for not engaging enough stakeholders in the process.

The Trump administration has largely backed off bundled payments while Verma has said she wants a new direction for CMMI who will “promote greater flexibility and patient engagement.”

“Adam is widely regarded as an innovative leader in the private sector and in him we are lucky to have someone who has designed and implemented new, patient-focused approaches to healthcare delivery,” Verma wrote to CMS staff.

HealthExec said Boehler's background also includes running another healthcare startup, lab management company Accumen. Other past roles include executive vice president and general manager at analytics provider MedeFinance and a principal healthcare investor at Accretive.