Tavenner follows CMS script at confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 11, 2013—According to AAHomecare, at last week’s Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Marilyn Tavenner, acting CMS administrator, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) highlighted the specific areas on which he wanted Tavenner to focus:

• Medicaid—She will need to make sure America’s health care safety net is working.
• Medicare—CMS needs a leader focused on payment reforms that incentivize providers to provide high quality care in a cost-effective manner.
• Waste, Fraud and Abuse—The Affordable Care Act included significant new authority and tools for CMS to protect Medicare and Medicaid and save taxpayer dollars. A confirmed administrator is necessary to oversee and use the new tools that will prevent and fight health care fraud.

Tavenner testified that she considers partnerships with all stakeholders—beneficiaries, providers, hospitals, insurance companies, Congress, this Administration, the American taxpayer, and CMS employees and contractors—as essential to her leadership role at the Agency.

In response to a question about improper payments from Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who pointed out that they are not the same as fraud, Tavenner used the power mobility device preauthorization program as an example of CMS’ successful efforts to reduce improper payments. She also included the bidding program as a front-end preventive measure.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said, “We all want to see savings, but we want to see it done in a smart way, and we certainly do not want to see it done at the expense of seniors’ access to necessary equipment.” He then asked Tavenner to describe what CMS will do to strengthen the review process to ensure that low bids are sustainable before expanding the program.

Tavenner answered with the usual commentary that CMS has seen “no issues with access” and that in Round One areas, CMS has “over 90 percent of the original folks who bid still in the market, still supplying.”

While both Democrats and Republicans support Tavenner’s confirmation, and Chairman Baucus plans to move quickly on it, he has not yet scheduled a full Committee vote. More information is available at www.aahomecare.org.