Smith Appointed

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson appointed Dennis Smith the interim head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), effective December 23. Smith, who replaced current head Thomas Scully, had been the director of the CMS Center for Medicaid and State Operations.

With a Fiscal 2004 budget of almost a half trillion dollars, Medicare and Medicaid are the second- and third-largest federal programs, behind the Social Security Administration in total budget, according to HHS. ▪