John Hammarlund is the Regional Administrator for the Chicago and Seattle offices of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In this role, his primary focus is outreach and education about CMS programs to all Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP program stakeholders in ten states including Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. He is the national lead for rural health issues on behalf of all the regional offices, and helps to disseminate and explain CMS policy to rural providers and beneficiaries. John also serves as the national lead on behalf of the regions for State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) matters, is an advisory member for the SHIP Performance Assessment Workgroup and is an advisory member of the agency's SHIP Steering Committee.

John has been in the Seattle Regional office since 1999, and his background includes work in both the public and private sectors. John was a senior policy analyst in CMS's Office of Legislation in Washington, D.C., where he developed and analyzed legislation and policies relating to Medicare benefits, program integrity, and quality assurance. He also served as a senior regulatory specialist at the American Association of Health Plans in Washington, D.C, where he provided guidance to managed care organizations on compliance with Medicaid and HIPAA regulations and was the Director of Finance for nursing services at Providence Medical Center in Seattle.

A Seattle native, John holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, a Master's in health administration from the University of Washington, and a law degree from Cornell Law School.