The Policy Circle is pleased to announce that Seema Verma, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will be a principal speaker at the The Policy Circle’s 4th Annual Leadership Summit, taking place in Chicago on November 15th, 2019.
For more than 20 years, Verma has worked extensively on a variety of policy and strategic projects involving Medicaid, insurance, and public health, working with Governor’s offices, State Medicaid agencies, State Health Departments, State Departments of Insurance, as well as the federal government, private companies and foundations. As Administrator of CMS, she oversees one of the largest federal agencies that administers vital healthcare programs to more than 100 million Americans. Administrator Verma was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 13, 2017.
Administrator Verma’s strong leadership has led to many major accomplishments, including stabilizing the individual health insurance market, where average premiums decreased in 2019 for the first time ever on federally facilitated exchanges, and Medicare Advantage premiums continue to decline. At the Summit, Verma will bring to life discussions on cyber-security and patient-centered initiatives including digital access to personal health records for consumers, the implications for businesses and individuals, and processes for keeping this data safe.
Verma’s bold agenda to empower patients and transform the healthcare system to deliver better value and results for patients through competition and innovation has also led to the introduction of the first-ever Medicaid & CHIP Scorecard to provide much-needed transparency on how well Medicaid is serving its beneficiaries, action taken across all programs to lower the cost of prescription drugs, including by bolstering the ability of Medicare Advantage & Part D plans to negotiate lower drug costs for patients, and the launch of the Blue Button 2.0 API, through which more than 1,700 mobile app developers have signed up to provide beneficiaries with access to their claims data and help them achieve better health.
Before becoming CMS Administrator, Verma was the President, CEO and founder of SVC, Inc., a national health policy consulting company. Verma has extensive experience redesigning Medicaid programs in several states, most notably the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), the Nation’s first consumer-directed Medicaid program under Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Governor Pence’s HIP 2.0 waiver proposal. Verma has supported Indiana through development of the historic program since its inception in 2007, from development of the enabling legislation, negotiating the financing plan with the State’s hospital association, developing the federal waiver, supporting federal negotiations and leading the implementation of the program, including the operational design. She also led the SVC team in developing many of the recent Medicaid reform programs in Iowa, Ohio and Kentucky. She helped design Tennessee’s coverage expansion proposal and also provided technical assistance to Michigan as that State implemented its 1115 Medicaid waiver.
Verma served as the State of Indiana’s health reform lead following the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and has worked with multiple public health agencies and state insurance agencies as they prepared for implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including interpreting and implementing regulatory changes and understanding the impact of the health exchanges on state insurance markets. Earlier in her career, Verma served as Vice President of Planning for the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, Indiana, and as a Director with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) in Washington D.C.
Administrator Verma is a graduate of the University of Maryland, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Health with a concentration in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University.
The Policy Circle is proud to welcome Verma to the mainstage alongside several other impressive minds on public health, innovation, and so much more. Be sure to check out the full list of speakers and their impressive backgrounds.
The Policy Circle is a 501(c)3 which provides a fact-based, nonpartisan framework built to inspire women living in the same community to connect, learn about and discuss economic policies that impact their lives. Women across the nation are taking a leadership role in the public policy dialogue on what human creativity can accomplish in an open economy.