Bill Calls for Dismantling CMS Innovation Center

WASHINGTON—The Abolish the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) Act was introduced to the House of Representatives. The bill, issued by Rep. Aaron Bean, aims to dismantle the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) innovation center that was created “to improve health care quality and reduce costs,” Bean said.

“CMMI’s existence is yet another example of the waste and mismanagement that has come to define Washington bureaucracy,” said Bean. “It’s time that we fight back against the bloated federal government and eliminate agencies that should never have been established in the first place. The expenditure of taxpayer dollars must be tied to results, and after 15 years of proven failures, it’s long past time to end CMMI for the good of both patients and taxpayers.” 

The CMMI was created under the Affordable Care Act with a $10 billion budget per decade to test payment models intended to reduce costs and improve care. According to Bean, projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) were overly optimistic, estimating $2.8 billion in savings from 2011 to 2020.

“In reality, CMMI increased federal spending by $5.4 billion during that period, and CBO now projects an additional $1.3 billion in spending from 2021 to 2030,” Bean said. “Outside analyses suggest these estimates likely understate the true cost, noting even mandatory models continue to underperform and fail to become more efficient.”

Bean said CBO projections rely on an expansive interpretation of CMMI’s authority, allowing the center to launch and expand mandatory models without Congressional approval, effectively supplanting Congress’s constitutional role and limiting lawmakers’ ability to intervene.

To view the full bill, click here.