Dive Brief:
- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the formation of the Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics (OEDA), and the appointment of Niall Brennan as the agency's first Chief Data Officer.
- Brennan will be in charge of overseeing improvements in data collection and dissemination as the agency strives to be more transparent. OEDA will help CMS "better harness its vast data resources to guide decision-making" and "drive higher-quality, patient-centered care at a lower cost," among other things, the agency said.
- CMS' announcement comes shortly after criticism of its data practices from healthcare groups that called for the agency to release data in a more transparent form.
Dive Insight:
CMS' new sub-agency is an important step as the healthcare industry deals with larger and larger volumes of data and focuses on outcomes and quality improvement. Brennan's experience in this arena make him a good fit for the new data chief role. He draws from years of health IT experience at CMS, where he served in various roles overseeing data analytics initiatives, as well as the Brookings Institution and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).