Dallas “Rob” Sweezy is a public affairs/government relations advisor and strategist with more than twenty-five years of seasoned expertise and a proven track record across the healthcare industry spectrum. Rob advises clients on health care policy, particularly with the complexities of Medicare and Medicaid. He also helps numerous clients with business development and business-to-government marketing strategies. In addition to health care, his knowledge and insight of issues range from international trade and agriculture finance, to worker safety and health. This background is honed from serving three presidents – Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush – in public policy positions at the Departments of Commerce, Labor, Agriculture and Health and Human Services.
Rob is a frequent guest lecturer at American University on health care policy and its impact on U. S. fiscal decision-making. He is a Member of the National Advisory Board on Improving Health Care Services for Seniors and People with Disabilities sponsored by a managed care organization. He is also the former Chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, and served on the Board of Directors for the Northern Virginia Parents of Down Syndrome, a local advocacy group.
Rob previously served as the Director of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) during one of the agency’s most unique and historic periods. He directed communications for the repositioning and re-branding of CMS’s image, and led successful, nation-wide communications and outreach campaigns promoting some of the department’s top priorities.
Rob managed messaging and communications between Washington, DC; the CMS Regional Offices; the Quality Improvement Organizations; and the provider and advocate communities. Working with a national managed care association and member companies, Rob was instrumental in bringing attention to disparities of care and disease management issues. He directed Medicare’s first-ever series of advertising campaigns – a $25 million ad buy for national television, radio and print. He also planned and coordinated nation-wide media tours for the heads of CDC, NIH, FDA and the Surgeon General to promote passage of the Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug bill.
Rob led the public roll-outs for both the Nursing Home and Home Healthcare Quality Initiatives and managed the communications efforts for the first ever pay-for-performance, Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration with Premier Hospitals. As part of CMS’s external-partners “Open Door Forums,” he was designated as a senior staff contact and spoke to numerous healthcare groups across the country.
Before joining CMS, Rob served as Vice President for a global public relations firm where he led several successful crisis and litigation communications support efforts and provided public policy counsel to clients. He was also Director of State Government Relations and Public Affairs for the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). At OSHA, Rob facilitated provider stakeholder forums as the agency adopted its first regulations to protect healthcare workers around blood-borne diseases.
He first came to Washington, D.C., to serve in the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration working on the Caribbean Basin Initiative and export development issues. Rob began his career as a political field operative in presidential campaign politics.
A native Texan, Rob received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Baylor University and completed post-graduate studies in public policy and international business at George Washington University. He has four children; Dallas, Austin, Carson and Madison. Rob can often be found with his hands covered in garden loam, his knees covered in grid-iron mud, his face covered in stage grease-paint, or his brow covered with his favorite team running visor.
