Burwell tapped to lead reform as new HHS secretary

Sylvia Mathews Burwell is ready for combat duty as the Obama administration's point person on healthcare reform.

Earlier this month, President Barak Obama nominated Burwell, 48, currently director of the Office of Management and Budget, to succeed HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In addition to overseeing the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which account for 85% of the agency's nearly $1 trillion budget, Burwell's portfolio will include the departments that regulate food and drugs, dispense federal research dollars and track infectious diseases.

Recent favorable comments by Senate Republicans—who unanimously supported her confirmation as OMB director one year ago—suggest she will be easily confirmed unless she commits a major gaffe during the hearings this month. Critics have grumbled about Burwell's lack of business or healthcare background, though most recent HHS secretaries also had no prior healthcare experience.

Before the OMB, Burwell served as president of the Wal-Mart Foundation and chief operating officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Before that, she was a deputy chief of staff under President Bill Clinton. She has degrees from Harvard University and Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

In naming Burwell to the post, Obama cited her superior management skills. “She brings the values of caring about your neighbor and ordinary folks to some of the biggest and most complex challenges of her time,” he said.

HHS' focus on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is certain to continue. “Implementation of the ACA continues to be the number one, two and three issue for the new secretary,” said Eric Zimmerman, a partner at the law firm McDermott Will & Emery.

One of her central tasks will be ensuring smooth operations during the 2015 open enrollment period, scheduled to begin on Nov. 15. The CMS soon will be reviewing policies submitted by health plans to be sold through the federal exchange. In addition, Burwell will have to make certain work on the so-called back end of the federal insurance exchange—which processes crucial payment and risk data from health plans—is successfully completed.

Burwell also will have to effectively steer the Affordable Care Act's Medicare payment and delivery reform initiatives, including the accountable care program. And she will be tasked with continuing and expanding the public release of data on physician and hospital payments and quality of care.

Follow Paul Demko on Twitter: @MHPDemko