Dive Brief:
- Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services announced that Alastair Fitzpayne, a Treasury Department aide, has been chosen as the organization's next chief of staff. Fitzpatrick is expected to join the department in November to work alongside Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.
- Fitzpayne has little experience in the healthcare industry but has worked on some of the administration's biggest fiscal deals including increasing the debt ceiling and tax proposals.
- He joined the Treasury Department in 2009, where he moved from deputy chief of staff to assistant secretary for legislative affairs. At this position he was a major liaison between the administration and Congress, which could benefit him in his new position where he will continue to do so extensively.
Dive Insight:
"While I will miss his thoughtful counsel, I am pleased to know that Al will continue to play an important role in the Administration in his new role as Chief of Staff at the Department of Health and Human Services," Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told Politico. "He will be a key asset to Secretary Burwell in helping to shape the HHS agenda at a time when it is at the center of so many important issues, ranging from continuing to expand the benefits of the Affordable Care Act for Americans to protecting the health of all Americans."
Fitzpayne will take over the role of former chief of staff Andrea Palm, who was moved to the position of senior counselor in early September. Palm began her tenure in the role in May 2013, and was formerly on the House Domestic Policy Council and was senior heath policy advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton.