Norwalk named acting director of CMS

Leslie Norwalk has been named acting director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She will be replacing CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, who announced that he was stepping down from his post to join a think tank focused on improving the U.S. healthcare system. "She is a nationally recognized expert on Medicare issues and played a central role in the successful implementation of the prescription drug benefit and other reforms to Medicare and Medicaid," Mike Leavitt, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, told Forbes. Norwalk, who is currently the deputy administrator, will assume her new role on October 15th.

For more on Norwalk's appointment:
- read this report from Forbes