Cohen Named Director of CCIIO

His appointment was announced by Marilyn Tavenner, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a unit of HHS.

Larsen resigned June 15 to join Optum, a unit of UnitedHealthcare, which is based in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Mike Hash, director of the Office of Health Reform, has served as interim director of CCIIO since Larsen left in early July.

To help Cohen implement the law, Tavenner named Jim Kerr to temporarily join CCIIO as the deputy director for operations as HHS gears up to implement the new law in the run-up to the launch of the final step, healthcare exchanges, in Jan. 2014.

Kerr currently serves as the Consortia Administrator for Medicare Health Plan Operations.

Nancy O'Connor, regional CMS administrator in Philadelphia, will take on Kerr's duties as deputy Consortium Administrator for Medicare Health Plan Operations while Jim is temporarily detailed to CCIIO.