CMS Medical Director Placed on Administrative Leave

BALTIMORE–CMS Medical Director Sean Tunis has been placed on
administrative leave, charged with falsifying medical records,
according to reports.

The director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality at
CMS has been charged by the Maryland Board of Physicians with
altering documents to show he had complied with state continuing
medical education requirements. In response to those charges, the
government put Tunis on administrative leave on Thursday, a CMS
spokesman told the Associated Press.

Dr. Barry Straub of CMS’ Region IX in San Francisco will take
Tunis’ place as the agency’s chief medical officer. The spokesman
did not comment on whether Tunis would return to his position if
the situation with the Maryland board is resolved.

Tunis is charged with submitting false statements regarding his
continuing medical education–required to maintain his license and
medical privileges at Mercy Medical Center, where he works
part-time–on three consecutive reappointment applications. The
board claims he also “persistently failed to comply” with
subpoenas.

In a written response, Tunis admitted to the allegations, BNA
reported, saying he attempted to reproduce lost records of CME
credits he had obtained legitimately.

The board began its investigation after receiving an anonymous
written complaint in July 2002. Tunis wrote that the complaint came
from a “disgruntled CMS subordinate” whom he passed over for a
promotion, reports said.

Tunis headed the government’s Interagency Wheelchair Work Group,
which worked last year to develop new coverage guidance for
Medicare’s mobility benefit. The panel ultimately produced a
proposal–still pending final approval–that called for Medicare to
move to an approach based more on “functional characteristics that
are evidence-based [that] will better predict who would benefit
from a power wheelchair or scooter,” Tunis said during an interview
last year.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July.