What Seema Verma’s 2023 Can Teach Us

What do the post-government career paths of top-level public servants look like — and what can we learn from them? Seema Verma, the former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, had an intriguing 2023, and studying her journey can be instructive.

This year, Verma transitioned back into the public eye while staying within the health care sector. She left her job as a senior adviser with the health-focused private equity firms Cressy & Co. and TPG to take a position at Oracle Corporation. In her new role as senior vice president and general manager of the company’s life sciences division, Verma oversees both Oracle Life Sciences and Cerner Enviza, an Oracle company.

In hiring Verma, Oracle’s EVP of Global Industries noted her track record, signaling that Verma will have a role not only in shaping the path of future research but will also be involved in talks on how to best position Oracle’s new drugs, therapies, and technologies for maximum effectiveness and mass adoption.

“Seema has a proven track record of success in both public and private sector health care,” Oracle’s Mike Sicilia said in a statement. “Because of this, she has a unique understanding of how to bring together those on the cutting edge of innovation and those in charge of regulation to help our customers make critical medical breakthroughs and bring new therapies to market.”

Seema Verma: Overseeing Massive Data-Collecting

The new position will put Verma in charge of a massive data-collecting organization. But instead of creating and implementing policies designed to grow enrollments or improve the outcomes of patients already taking advantage of government health care services, Verma now heads a division that uses analytics to accelerate research and find new ways to better the quality of life for those living with cancer and rare diseases.

It’s a role that will no doubt see Verma take on a more public-facing stance, taking advantage of both her insider connections in Washington, D.C., and the wider world of health care policymakers, while also putting to use her talents as a speaker who can win over audiences and project confidence in front of crowds.

Based in Austin, Texas, as of 2020 Oracle is one of the world’s largest software companies. While the bulk of its business comes from database technologies, cloud computing systems, and enterprise business software, it’s also branched into other spaces such as food and beverages, hospitality, construction, and energy.

It acquired Cerner in June 2022 for $28 billion, with hopes of improving the company’s efficiency and capabilities by modernizing its software and technology. Oracle has since worked to upgrade its electronic health records platform to support more telehealth capabilities and incorporate medical-specific artificial intelligence tools. Bringing Seema Verma’s experience and expertise to the company reflects Oracle’s deeper investment in building practical tools that will improve efficiency at doctors’ offices, insurance companies, and in the annals of government.

Her tenure at CMS was marked by an ambitious agenda to lower health care costs for patients and reduce regulatory burdens on care providers. Toward that end, she worked to lower premiums, increase price transparency, force free-market competition, and cut down on the reams of paperwork that Medicare and Medicaid required of doctors.

“Going forward, value-based care can help ensure health care resiliency,” Verma wrote in an article for Health Affairs. “By accepting value-based or capitated payments, providers are better able to weather fluctuations in utilization, and they can focus on keeping patients healthy rather than trying to increase the volume of services to ensure reimbursement. Value-based payments also provide stable, predictable revenue — protecting providers from the financial impact of a pandemic.”

Accountability for Public Servants

With a thorough understanding of medical paperwork and patient needs, Seema Verma’s expertise should be a welcome presence for Oracle stakeholders.

But her move to Oracle isn’t only important for what it might mean to investors. It’s also instructive because of what it reveals about how the American public grapples with accountability for public servants and the legacy of change.

In 2023, Verma’s tenure at CMS faced intense scrutiny at the federal level.

While leading the organization through the tough times wrought by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Verma rose to a level of publicity uncommon for CMS administrators. The spotlight no doubt intensified the criticism that every change-leading bureaucrat faces. And Verma came to CMS with a mandate for change. Her time at CMS was marked by a willingness to shake traditional systems and fight for what she believed were better processes and policies.

Those maneuvers came with some backlash. Representatives on four separate committees suggested that her tenure at CMS be investigated to ensure that the new processes Verma employed didn’t break federal laws or regulations.

Toward that end, representatives requested that the Government Accountability Office review whether the CMS under Verma inappropriately spent agency money on personal expenses, paid an outside agency to promote propaganda and/or act as a “publicity expert,” and violated the Antideficiency Act by promising to pay for services beyond the available budget.

These charges were serious. Thankfully, the GAO is famously nonpartisan and notoriously fair. The move lent an airtight seal of credibility to the efforts to get to the bottom of any illicit or negligent behavior.

After a thorough review, the GAO concluded that neither Verma nor the CMS violated any rules or regulations. In a report, the agency formally cleared Verma of any wrongdoing, noting that in every instance of accused impropriety, she acted well within the confines of federal laws, rules, and regulations.

Her legacy at CMS remains unsullied, which should give her greater leverage to effect change now that she’s outside the Beltway. It will be illuminating to see what she can accomplish given another four years leading a health care-focused division of another vast and powerful organization.