Chief Operating Officer

Jonathan (Jon) Blum currently serves as the Principal Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In this dual role, Jon oversees CMS’s program policy planning and implementation and day-to-day operations of the entire agency. CMS’s programs provide health coverage to more than 150 million individuals, spending more than $1.7 trillion in annual benefits with an annual operating budget of more than $7 billion.  

This is Jon’s second time serving in a senior leadership position at CMS. He previously served as the Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center of Medicare from 2009 – 2014, leading the agency’s Medicare payment and delivery reform strategies and the policy and program management of the Medicare program.

Jon has more than 25 years of public- and private-sector experience working in health care policy and administration. In addition to his positions at CMS, he has worked as a strategy and management consultant, an Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, professional staff at the Senate Finance Committee, and a program analyst at the Office of Budget and Management. 

Prior to joining CMS, Jon served on several nonprofit boards with missions to improve access and equity to health care and health coverage, including Mary's Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center; the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County; and the Medicare Rights Center.

Jon earned a Master of Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

John Czajkowski is Deputy Chief Operating Officer. John previously served as the Deputy Director of the CMS Office of Financial Management.

In 1986, he began his Federal career in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health’s budget office. He went on to hold senior budget, finance, and administrative positions at the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General.

John was the Deputy Director for Management of the National Cancer Institute, where he navigated the organization through a number of important strategic initiatives, including the launch of new research programs and major capital projects. In 2014, he was recruited by Harvard University to serve as the Executive Dean for Administration at Harvard Medical School.

John holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a Master’s in Public Administration from American University.

• Overall responsibility for facilitating the coordination, integration and execution of CMS policies and activities across CMS components, including new program initiatives.
• Promotes accountability, communication, coordination, and facilitation of cooperative corporate decision-making among CMS senior leadership on management, operational and programmatic cross-cutting issues.
• Tracks and monitors CMS performance and intervenes, as appropriate, to ensure key milestones/deliverables are successfully achieved. Keeps the Administrator and Principal Deputy Administrator advised of the status of significant national initiatives and programs that affect beneficiaries and/or the health care industry and makes recommendations regarding necessary corrective actions. Oversees enterprise performance reporting and has accountability to ensure the Agency has an understanding of performance, delivery, and progress against enterprise goals.
• Oversees enterprise risk management and has accountability to ensure the Agency has risk awareness and takes appropriate action to address risk in strategy development, planning, and delivery.
• Oversees all planning, implementation and evaluation of administrative and operational activities for CMS, including enterprise-wide information systems and services, acquisition and grants, financial management, facilities, and human resources.