Sharon Lewis, like so many government appointees before her, has left her job at the federal Administration on Community Living (ACL) and has moved on to a position in a private sector consulting firm. The ACL is an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that administers programs for people with disabilities and older adults. Her departure from the agency was announced in December 2015. She is now employed by a Healthcare consulting and research firm called Health Management Associates.
Sharon Lewis was the Principal Deputy Administrator and co-founder of the Administration on Community Living. She has collaborated with multiple federal and state agencies and led controversial reforms in Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) policy and regulations. Over the years she has also worked closely with disability advocacy groups.
There is apparently nothing untoward or improper about her accepting a position with a consulting firm. Her experience and contacts will make her an unusually valuable addition to the team.
The idea of “The Revolving Door”, however, raises questions about the people in Washington overseeing programs for people with disabilities. Are they working for us or are they angling for their next job? Maybe a little of both? The greatest conflict of interest that I see is when advocates for people with disabilities move back and forth between government agencies and advocacy groups. Their watchdog role in monitoring government for people with disabilities is inevitably compromised by the interests of the federal agencies that pay them. These conflicts need to be disclosed regularly and individuals and groups that operate independently of government need to be assured of the opportunity to be heard so as not to be drowned out by federally-funded advocates.
Michiganders may be interested in knowing that Health Management Associates has a Michigan component that includes Steve Fitton, a former State Medicaid Director, and Rich VandenHeuvel, a behavioral health executive with several community mental health agencies and regional Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans (PIHPs).
See more on the Revolving Door.
The Center for Responsive Politics at OpenSecrets.org is a non-partisan, independent and nonprofit group that tracks money in politics and its effects on elections and public policy. Of the “The Revolving Door”, the organization says, “…[it] shuffles former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists just as the door pulls former hired guns into government careers…While officials in the executive branch, Congress and senior congressional staffers spin in and out of the private and public sectors, so too does privilege, power, access and, of course, money.”
According to an article in The Hill, "Former ObamaCare official becomes top lobbyist for insurers" by Sarah Ferris, 7/15/15, the former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Marilyn Tavenner, has become the president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). AHIP is a lobbying group for the Health Insurance industry.
Tavenner announced in January 2015 that she would be leaving CMS.
CMS is the agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that regulates Medicare and Medicaid. In my rudimentary knowledge of insurance regulation, it appears the insurance industry is mostly regulated by the states, but the regulation of Medicare and Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act has had a large impact on the industry. Tavenner's appointment should be a great advantage to the health insurance business.
CMS is also the agency that issued the rule on Home and Community-Based settings in January 2014.
This happens all the time in Washington, D.C., so it is no surprise that Tavenner switched sides from regulator to the regulated relatively quickly. That this is perfectly legal and accepted within Washington, does not make it any less questionable to the rest of the country. Who are the people making up the rules? Are they working for us or are they angling for their next job? Maybe a little of both?
The Department of
Health and Human Services announced last week that it was appointing
Andy Slavitt, who currently serves as acting administrator, to assume
Tavenner’s former post.
I found this in an email newsletter from ACCSES, a national disability provider organization.
Careful! You might get dizzy. Ms. Barkoff has gone from staff attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, to the US Department of Justice, with forays into the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Labor, and back again to the Bazelon Center:
Alison Barkoff Returns to Bazelon as Advocacy Director
Ms. Barkoff was a staff attorney with the Bazelon Center [for Mental Health Law] from 2005 to 2010, before joining the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she served for four years as Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement in the Civil Rights Division. As Director of Advocacy, Ms. Barkoff will help lead the Bazelon Center's policy and litigation work, as well as work on organizational activities such as fundraising. While at the DOJ, Ms. Barkoff led the Civil Right Division's efforts to enforce the rights of individuals with disabilities to live, work, and receive services in the community. Under her leadership, the Division issued its first guidance based on the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Olmstead disability-rights ruling and was actively involved in Olmstead litigation across the country, including several cases culminating in statewide system reform settlement agreements. She also worked with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS, the federal agency that regulates Medicare and Medicaid] on finalizing rules governing Medicaid-funded community-based services and with the Department of Labor on implementation of its new home care rule in Medicaid-funded disability service systems.
