By skyforbes 
Kate Wetherby, Heathcare IT veteran and Deputy Director at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) speaks to Rashmi Rao, HLWF ™ Alliance on Digitization of Healthcare
Kathryn (Kate) Wetherby joined CMS in 2016 and is presently the Deputy Director for the Marketplace Innovation and Technology Group in the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO). Kate has spent her federal career within Health and Human Services (HHS) focused on health information technology and IT modernization. Prior to CMS she worked at SAMHSA focused on implementing HITECH, interoperability and standards development, and Meaningful Use. Prior to her federal government career her focus was on startups and small businesses in healthcare creating strategy, leading product lines, and reinventing corporate cultures. In 2023, she was finalist of the Healthcare Executive of the Year at the Washington Exec Pinnacle Awards. Kathryn Wetherby’s contributions in the Federal Health Information Technology and have been significant, and she continues to drive change and innovation in her current role at CMS.
Coming from a family with no medical background, where a career in finance or law was the norm, Kate bucked the trend. In college, she trained as a therapist, dedicating the early years of her career to working at Boys Town and in crisis centers, specializing in trauma and at-risk youth. Through her work, she observed the complexities of care coordination across different modalities, which led her to…