The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will create the new position of chief risk officer, who will focus on mitigating risk across CMS's programs.

The creation of the new position is one of three steps that the Department of Health and Human Services is taking to improve HealthCare.gov and prevent the "structural and managerial policies that led to the flawed launch of HealthCare.gov," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote in a blog post.

"The chief risk officer will work across CMS to asses risk management practices associated with major agency initiatives," Sebelius wrote. "This individual also will lead efforts to prepare mitigation strategies to minimize those risks, and will develop metrics to measure the effectiveness of those strategies.

The CRO's first assignment will be to review risk management practices when it comes to IT acquisition and contracting, starting with identifying the risk factors that impeded the successful launch of the HealthCare.gov Website.  "I will ask this individual to report back to me in 60 days with recommendations for strategies to mitigate risks in future large-scale, CMS contracting and IT acquisition projects," Sebelius wrote.

Sebelius is also asking that Inspector General Dan Levinson review the development of HealthCare.gov. Additionally, she said, CMS will "update and expand CMS employee training on best practices for contractor and procurement management, rules and procedures."