Dive Brief:
- Marilyn Tavenner will resign as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the end of February, White House officials told The Huffington Post. The agency has planned an announcement for Friday.
- Second-in-command Andrew Slavitt will take over as interim administrator.
- Tavenner is another in what is becoming a long line of high-profile resignations from the Department of Health and Human Services, following Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' departure in June.
Dive Insight:
Tavenner has been with CMS since 2010 and won Senate confirmation to lead the agency in 2013.
"Marilyn Tavenner has devoted five years and countless hours to the cause of improving healthcare quality, holding down costs, protecting the Medicare Trust Fund and expanding access to affordable healthcare coverage to millions of Americans," said HHS Secretary Burwell in a statement to be released Friday. "In so doing, she delivered historic results that have impacted countless lives—both today and for decades to come—all for the better."