Chuck Grassley Questions Dr. Oz on CMS Priorities, Laughter Ensues

Senator Grassley's Six Key Issues for CMS

• 💊 Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Grassley expects the nominee to support efforts to hold these powerful drug middlemen accountable and lower prescription drug costs, noting significant bipartisan support for this issue.
• 🏥 Rural Healthcare Access: The nominee is expected to protect and support access to rural healthcare by filling open slots in demonstration programs, distributing residency slots to rural hospitals, and ensuring the rural emergency hospital program functions effectively.
• 🧒 Kids with Exceptional Needs: Action is expected to improve care and reduce red tape for children with complex medical needs, including working with states to establish health homes as enabled by the Bipartisan ACE Kids Act.
• 📈 Transitional Health Plans: Grassley urged the nominee to maintain access to transitional health plans, which have provided coverage for approximately 35,000 Iowa farmers and small business owners since Obamacare was implemented.
• 💸 Waste, Fraud, and Abuse: With improper payments averaging $122 billion annually, Grassley emphasized the need for CMS to aggressively pursue waste, fraud, and abuse, empowering whistleblowers as a key tool, referencing his updates to the False Claims Act.
• 🏛️ Congressional Oversight: The nominee is expected to provide timely and complete responses to Congressional oversight requests, fostering a culture within CMS where middle management pays attention to whistleblower concerns.

Nominee's Response and Proposed Improvements

• ✅ Commitment to Responsiveness: The nominee acknowledged that CMS has not been responsive to committee members and expressed a directional commitment to improve communication and feedback loops.
• 🗣️ Improving Communication: The nominee suggested that CMS could significantly improve how it communicates with the American people and the private sector, potentially adopting models like developer conferences to explain offerings and gather feedback.
• 🔍 Engaging with Whistleblowers: A key piece of advice taken is to look deeper within CMS to find individuals willing to speak truthfully about operational issues, suggesting engagement with lower-level employees rather than just senior leadership.
• 💰 Addressing Bureaucratic Culture: The nominee recognized the need to improve the culture within CMS to ensure that concerns brought forward by whistleblowers are addressed effectively at the management level.