Haynes and Boone, LLP Associate Jennifer Kreick shared her thoughts with MedCity News about Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) administrator nominee who is expected to prioritize healthcare access and equity.
Here is an excerpt:
Brooks-LaSure is currently managing director at Manatt, a national professional services firm. But she has plenty of prior experience in government. Previously, she served as deputy director for policy at CMS’s Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight and director of coverage policy at the Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman leading the charge at CMS.
One of Brooks-LaSure’s top policy priorities will likely be expanding access to healthcare and insurance coverage, said Jennifer Kreick, a healthcare attorney at law firm Haynes and Boone.
Brooks-LaSure’s interest in expanding access, especially through the Affordable Care Act, is well-documented. Just last year, she co-authored a paper published in Health Affairs on this topic.
Specifically, to extend access to care, she may make permanent policies initiated temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kreick said. For example, CMS waived certain Medicare coverage requirements for telehealth services to increase care access during the public health emergency. This included allowing Medicare to cover telehealth visits provided to beneficiaries in their homes in any area, as opposed to only covering telehealth when it was provided to people in designated areas and in a healthcare facility.
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