CMS's Tavenner on track for confirmation

If comments from senators at a Senate Finance Committee hearing to discuss the confirmation of CMS's Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner are any indication, the agency appears on track to have a confirmed administrator for the first time since 2006. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) introduced Tavenner, whom he described as "eminently qualified." The majority of senators on the 24-member committee who spoke at the hearing voiced support for Tavenner, highlighting both her private sector experience and her work as Virginia's secretary of health and human resources. Tavenner has been CMS's acting administrator since Donald Berwick stepped down in December 2011.

In her testimony, Tavenner said she will run CMS "as a business" and said the agency needs to leverage tools -- including payment strategies tied to performance and "innovative models of care" -- to reduce overall costs of care and to improve the healthcare delivery system. Additionally, Tavenner said she initiated an internal review and has also asked HHS's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to conduct an impartial review on the possible leak of information regarding CMS's decision to increase -- rather than decrease -- Medicare Advantage payment rates. CMS announced the news after market close on April 1, but financial firm Height Securities issued a notice to clients just prior to market close on Monday predicting the increase. The notice sent shares of public insurers up that day (see BioCentury Extra, April 4). ...