President Joe Biden has picked Norris Cochran as acting secretary of HHS and Elizabeth Richter as acting administrator of CMS, according to agency websites.
Additionally, Micky Tripathi, PhD, was tapped as national coordinator for health IT.
Ms. Richter and Mr. Cochran will serve in their acting roles until the Senate confirms permanent heads for CMS and HHS. President Biden has chosen Xavier Becerra, California's attorney general, as his nominee for HHS secretary. He has not yet revealed his pick for CMS administrator.
Ms. Richter, who has served as CMS' deputy center director since 2007, joined the agency in 1990. She initially worked in the bureau of policy development and later moved to the office of financial management, where she was director of the financial services group. She also was director of the hospital and ambulatory policy group in the center for Medicare management.
Mr. Cochran, HHS deputy assistant secretary of budget, is serving as acting HHS secretary for the second time. He also served as acting secretary in 2017.
Dr. Tripathi succeeds Don Rucker, MD. Previously, Dr. Tripathi was chief alliance officer at Arcadia, a population health management technology company. He also served as president and CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative.
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