BALTIMORE--CMS Deputy Administrator Leslie Norwalk will become the interim head of the agency when Administrator Mark McClellan leaves his post this month.

Named as acting administrator by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, Norwalk has served in positions including chief operating officer, acting director of the Center for Beneficiary Choices and counselor to former Administrator Thomas Scully since joining CMS five years ago. After Scully's departure, Norwalk remained as the agency lead in carrying out Medicare reform legislation. She assumes her new duties Oct. 15.

"I am committed to a stable, seamless transition and will work to move forward as quickly as possible," Norwalk wrote in an e-mail to CMS staff last week.

Norwalk also announced in the e-mail that Herb Kuhn will become acting deputy administrator of CMS. For the past two years, Kuhn has served as director of the Center for Medicare Management, where he has been responsible for developing reimbursement policies and regulations for the Medicare program.

Before joining CMS, Norwalk practiced law in the Washington office of Epstein Becker & Green and served in the first Bush administration in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. She earned a juris doctor degree from the George Mason University School of Law and a bachelor's degree in economics and international relations from Wellesley College.

Kuhn is a former corporate vice president for advocacy at Premier Inc., a not-for profit hospital alliance. He also served in the American Hospital Association's Washington office as vice president for federal relations and has worked on Capitol Hill in the office of former Rep. Bob Whittaker, R-Kan.

Last month, McClellan said he was resigning from CMS (see HomeCare Monday, Sept. 11) but has yet to announce his plans after he leaves the agency.