CMS Administrator Don Berwick, MD, is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on Wednesday. Dr. Berwick will discuss the Medicare program and the impact of the health care reform bill to the U.S. health care system, according to a release of his prepared remarks. He'll attempt defend the new law and tout its benefits.
Dr. Berwick's visit to Capitol Hill should be welcomed by senators that were deprived the chance to question him during a confirmation hearing. President Barack Obama chose to appointment Dr. Berwick to the CMS post during a summer recess, which allowed the former pediatrician to take office without having to go through the normal confirmation process. Senators criticized the president for this, noting the importance of the position that oversees hundreds of billions of dollars in health care spending every year.
Here are a few highlights from Dr. Berwick's opening remarks:
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Reducing improper payments: CMS is reexamining claims and enrollment systems "to prevent improper payments while still promptly compensating honest, hard-working providers. Due to prompt pay requirements in Medicare, our claims processing systems were built to quickly process and pay claims. CMS pays 4.8 million Medicare claims each day, approximately 1.2 billion Medicare claims each year."
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Reducing payment error rates: CMS is "keenly focused" on Obama's ambitious goal of reducing the Medicare fee-for-service error rate in half by 2012. In 2009, nearly 10% of physician Part B claims sent to Medicare carriers contained errors, according to the last Comprehensive Error Rate Test (CERT) report.
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Public-private partnership: CMS is developing a Multi-payer Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration (MAPCP). This demonstration involving Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers will join together to develop a "common payment method across different payers will reduce administrative burdens, align incentives, and provide participating practices with the resources needed to function as advanced primary care practices."
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The Innovation Center: CMS will work with other agencies and organizations "to identify and promote systems changes that can improve quality and outcomes for patients while containing costs." The innovation center will look for new ways to deliver services, pay providers and save the taxpayers' money.