Sean Cavanaugh is the Chief Commercial and Policy Officer of Aledade, a start-up aimed at helping primary care doctors form accountable care organizations (ACOs). Until 2017, he was the Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He was responsible for overseeing the regulation and payment of Medicare fee-for service providers, privately-administered Medicare health plans, and the Medicare prescription drug program. Medicare provides health coverage for over 57 million older and disabled Americans, with an annual budget of over $650 billion.
Before assuming his leadership role at Medicare, Mr. Cavanaugh was the Deputy Director for Programs and Policy in the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing the development and testing of new payment and service delivery models, including accountable care organizations and medical homes.
Previously, Mr. Cavanaugh was director of health care finance at the United Hospital Fund in New York City. He has also served in senior positions at Lutheran Healthcare (Brooklyn, NY), the New York City Mayor’s Office of Health Insurance Access, and the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission. He started his career on Capitol Hill working for a Representative serving on the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.