Dr. Lee Fleisher will be CMS' new chief medical officer and director of the agency's Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, CMS announced Tuesday.
He currently serves as a practicing anesthesiologist and professor of medicine and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. Fleisher is an expert on quality measurement, coverage decisions and evidence-based medicine, having published more than 200 scholarly articles and nine books on those subjects during the past three decades.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma wrote in an email to agency staff that Fleisher "will continue some professional and clinical activities in the field, including retaining faculty appointment with the University of Pennsylvania and serving on a few select medical committees."
Fleisher is treasurer of the National Quality Forum's board of directors, a member of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's medical advisory panel and a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2007. He has also served on a number of CMS technical expert panels since 2003.
CCSQ Deputy Director Jean Moody-Williams led the Center for Clinical Standard and Quality during the past few months and will continue to serve as CCSQ's deputy director.
In addition, CMS promoted Dr. Michelle Schreiber to CCSQ's deputy director for quality and value. She previously directed CCSQ's quality measurement and value-based incentives group. Karen Tritz will fill the newly created role of survey and operations group director.
"Karen's leadership during the COVID-19 public health emergency has been instrumental in ensuring that healthcare facilities across the continuum had the flexibilities needed to provide care in a pandemic," Verma said in an email.
All regional employees who conduct healthcare facility quality and safety surveys and manage the enforcement of the quality and safety standards joined CCSQ following CMS' reorganization in November.
"This integration made CCSQ the agency's single point of contact for quality and safety work. This new scope led to the need for additional roles to complement the existing senior leadership structure," Verma wrote.