Thompson, Scully Lay Out CMS Improvements
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Thomas Scully told the Senate Finance Committee yesterday that they have "big plans for the agency" formerly known as HCFA, including "streamlin[ing]" its bookkeeping systems, CongressDaily reports. Thompson said it would take about three years centralize the agency's 81 different computer systems, "many of which cannot communicate with each other." To help doctors and hospitals better understand new regulations, Thompson and Scully said that they plan to issue a "compendium" at the start of each quarter in which "they will list each rule and guidance they expect to publish" in the upcoming quarter. Scully said, "This way we won't get any more surprises and every provider in the country won't have to hire a lawyer to read the Federal Register everyday." Thompson said he has "established a new system for responding to requests for information and promised to clear away all backlogged correspondence by July 1." He added that he has signed "a record" 600 Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program waivers, providing states with "more flexibility" to implement their programs. But despite their push to improve CMS, Thompson and Scully said additional resources were needed if the department is going to "take on more responsibility" (Fulton, CongressDaily, 6/19).
Name Change Not Enough
NPR's "Morning Edition" today included a segment today from health policy writer Joyce Frieden, who said that "Kathie Lee Gifford has nothing" on CMS when it comes to "image problems." Frieden said that the name change was appropriate because HCFA "sounded like hiccup," adding, "Who needed a government agency named after a bodily function?" But the name change is unlikely to address the unpopular perception of the agency, Frieden said, because "this is an agency whose idea of a good time is issuing an 86-page regulation to explaining how to fill out a claims form." She also said the agency did not help its image by promoting managed care companies to Medicare beneficiaries and then watching as many HMOs dropped out of the program "leaving thousands of patients behind." Frieden said that CMS should also find a good slogan to increase its popularity, since a "good slogan can distract the public." Frieden suggested sarcastically: "If you're old enough, sick enough or poor enough, we've got a plan for you." She concluded by saying that maybe CMS should devise its own reality TV show, suggesting a scenario in which beneficiaries "equipped only with their Medicare or Medicaid card would attempt to get medical care in a typical American city." The winner, she said, "would be the one who actually survives" (NPR, "Morning Edition," 6/20). To hear the segment go to ....
