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Patrick Newbold to depart as top CMS tech official

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ IT leader will depart on Nov. 27.

November 12, 2026

A sign in front of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services building is seen on March 19, 2025 in Woodlawn, Md. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Patrick Newbold is set to leave the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, capping two years as the agency’s chief information officer.

The news was first reported by Federal News Network and confirmed to FedScoop by Newbold on Thursday. His last day will be Nov. 27. Mark Plaugher, director of the agency’s Information Systems Group, will step in as acting upon his departure. Plaugher is already listed as acting on a public agency organization chart.

During his time at CMS, Newbold led as the agency — like others across the Department of Health and Human Services — consolidated its IT functions under President Donald Trump.

The agency sought to grow its AI usage during his tenure, frequently highlighting that roughly 80% of its workforce was using AI tools, including the agency’s “CMS Chat.” Newbold noted recently, however, that the agency was aiming to be more outcomes-focused rather than AI-focused, and had established an internal forum called Tech Pulse that was helping facilitate the approach.

“Instead of leading with AI, we’re going back and we’re leading with outcomes,” Newbold said while speaking on a panel in September. “And if it just so happens that AI is helping meet those outcomes, that’s a good thing.”

Prior to his role at CMS, Newbold was global deputy CIO at NASA and CIO of the Social Security Administration, per his LinkedIn. He began his career in government with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as deputy CIO and director of IT.

Throughout his government service, Newbold has held roles within the American Council for Technology – Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) — a nonprofit membership organization aimed at improving government IT — including as a current member of its government leadership council. Newbold is also currently a board member of the General Services Administration’s Technology Modernization Fund, an intragovernmental funding vehicle that finances agency IT projects.

Newbold’s departure comes as several high-ranking IT positions at HHS also don’t have a permanent official. That includes David Hong, who is acting department CIO as well as its acting top AI official, and Steve Warren, who is acting CIO at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The department’s chief technology officer role also remains vacant.