centers for medicare & medicaid services centers for medicare & medicaid services the centers for medicare & medicaid services (cms), is a federal agency within the united states department of health and human services (hhs) that administers the medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer medicaid, the children's health insurance program (chip), and health insurance portability standards. in addition to these programs, cms has other responsibilities, including the administrative simplification standards from the health insurance portability and accountability act of 1996 (hipaa), quality standards in long-term care facilities (more commonly referred to as nursing homes) through its survey and certification process, clinical laboratory quality standards under the clinical laboratory improvement amendments, and oversight of healthcare.gov. cms was previously known as the health care financing administration (hcfa) until 2001. centers for medicare & medicaid servicesagency overviewformedmarch 1977 (1977-03)precedinghealth care financing administration (1977-2001)headquarterswoodlawn, baltimore county, maryland, u.s.employees6,000agency executiveschiquita brooks-lasure, administratorjonathan blum, principal deputy administratorparent agencydepartment of health and human serviceswebsitewww.cms.gov cms actively inspects and reports on every nursing home in the united states. this includes maintaining the 5-star quality rating system. history originally, the name "medicare" in the united states referred to a program providing medical care for families of people serving in the military as part of the dependents' medical care act, which was passed in 1956. president dwight d. eisenhower held the first white house conference on aging in january 1961, in which creating a health care program for social security beneficiaries was proposed. president lyndon b. johnson signed the social security amendments on july 30, 1965, establishing both medicare and medicaid. arthur e. hess, a deputy commissioner of the social security administration, was named as first director of the bureau of health insurance in 1965, placing him as the first executive in charge of the medicare program. at the time, the program provided health insurance to 19 million americans. the social security administration (ssa) became responsible for the administration of medicare and the social and rehabilitation service (srs) became responsible for the administration of medicaid. both agencies were organized under what was then known as the department of health, education, and welfare (hew). in march 1977, the health care financing administration (hcfa) was established under hew. hcfa became responsible for the coordination of medicare and medicaid. the responsibility for enrolling beneficiaries into medicare and processing premium payments remained with ssa. hcfa was renamed the centers for medicare and medicaid services on july 1, 2001. in 2013, a report by the inspector general found that cms had paid $23 million in benefits to deceased beneficiaries in 2011. in april 2014, cms released raw claims data from 2012 that gave a look into what types of doctors billed medicare the most. in january 2018, cms released guidelines for states to use to require medicaid beneficiaries to continue receiving coverage. these guidelines came in response to then-president trump's announcement that he would allow states to impose work requirements in medicaid. in october, cms reported a data breach of 75,000 people's personal data due to a hack. in january 2021, cms passed a rule that would cover "breakthrough technology" for four years after they received fda approval. in september 2021, cms submitted a proposal to repeal the rule based on safety concerns. workforce cms employs over 6,000 people, of whom about 4,000 are located at its headquarters in woodlawn, maryland. the remaining employees are located in the hubert h. humphrey building in washington, d.c., the 10 regional offices listed below, and in various field offices located throughout the united states. the head of cms is the administrator of the centers for medicare & medicaid services. the position is appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. on may 27, 2021, chiquita brooks-lasure was sworn in as administrator, the first black woman to serve in the role. regional offices cms has its headquarters in woodlawn, maryland, with 10 regional offices located throughout the united states: region i – boston, massachusetts connecticut, massachusetts, maine, new hampshire, rhode island and vermont region ii – new york, new york new york state, new jersey, u.s. virgin islands and puerto rico region iii – philadelphia, pennsylvania delaware, maryland, pennsylvania, virginia, west virginia and the district of columbia region iv – atlanta, georgia alabama, florida, georgia, kentucky, mississippi, north carolina, south carolina and tennessee region v – chicago, illinois illinois, indiana, michigan, minnesota, ohio and wisconsin region vi – dallas, texas arkansas, louisiana, new mexico, oklahoma and texas region vii – kansas city, missouri iowa, kansas, missouri, and nebraska region viii – denver, colorado colorado, montana, north dakota, south dakota, utah, and wyoming region ix – san francisco, california arizona, california, hawaii, nevada, american samoa, guam, and the northern mariana islands region x – seattle, washington alaska, idaho, oregon, and washington list of administrators no. image name took office left office president served under 1 arthur e. hess 1965 1967 lyndon b. johnson 2 thomas m. tierney 1967 1978 lyndon b. johnsonrichard nixongerald fordjimmy carter 3 robert derzon june 1977 november 1978 jimmy carter 4 leonard schaeffer november 1978 june 1980 5 howard n. newman july 1980 january 1981 6 carolyne davis march 1981 august 1985 ronald reagan 7 william l. roper may 1986 february 1989 ronald reagangeorge h. w. bush 8 gail wilensky february 1990 march 1992 george h. w. bush 9 bruce vladeck may 1993 september 1997 bill clinton 10 nancy-ann deparle november 1997 september 2000 11 thomas a. scully may 2001 december 3, 2003 george w. bush 12 mark mcclellan march 25, 2004 october 14, 2006 13 donald berwick july 7, 2010 december 2, 2011 barack obama 14 marilyn tavenner december 2, 2011 march 18, 2015 acting andy slavitt march 18, 2015 january 20, 2017 15 seema verma march 14, 2017 january 20, 2021 donald trump acting elizabeth richter january 20, 2021 may 27, 2021 joe biden 16 chiquita brooks-lasure may 27, 2021 present