Outpatient Surgery Magazine: CMS to Bundle Payments for Total Knees and Hips

President Obama set the stage late Thursday for yet another bitter battle with Congress with an after-hours nomination of a healthcare executive with huge conflict of interest problems to head the government agency running Obamacare. Chip Kahn, CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, urged the Senate to “act swiftly to confirm Mr. Slavitt as the next CMS administrator so that America’s critical healthcare programs will have the true benefit of a strong and experienced leader”. Seven months later, he was named acting administrator.

“N”>The USA agency that runs federally funded health insurance programs has proposed restructuring payments for hip and knee replacement surgeries, some of the most common surgeries received by patients covered by the plans. “The lack of interoperability is not acceptable to taxpayers, and it is not acceptable to us”.

In the letter sent to the hospital, CMS wrote the “deficiencies substantially limit the hospital’s capacity to render adequate care to patients or are of such character as to adversely affect patient health and safety”. “We believe Andy’s proven leadership in the public and private sectors speaks to the ongoing contributions he will make at CMS”, Umbendstock added. A year back, Slavitt joined CMS as principal deputy administrator.

Families U.S, a nonprofit organization working on behalf of health consumers, said that Slavitt shined as part of the previously mentioned turnaround team for HealthCare.gov.

Medicare shelled out about $586 billion in 2013 to cover more than 50 million elderly and disabled people in the country, the news service said.

The liberal Center for American Progress has also praised Slavitt and it suggested that throughout his career, he has helped the healthcare industry to get better.

In a statement responding to the nomination, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., said the head of the CMS should be focused on Medicare and Medicaid rather than Obamacare.

His appointment to the post was met with skepticism from Republicans in the House and Senate, as Slavitt worked as group vice president of OptumInsight/QSSI, a technology company, before taking the No. 2 post at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “As such, he will be expected to demonstrate that he is up to the challenge and capable of successfully leading the agency through the monumental tasks that lie ahead”.