Dr. Mehmet Oz will lead the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate on Thursday.
At CMS, Oz will oversee Medicare and Medicaid, the home health industry’s biggest payers. The Senate voted to confirm on Thursday along party lines — 53 to 45. During a confirmation hearing in March, Oz pledged to address the needs of chronically ill patients with the twin goals of reducing costs and improving outcomes.
“The Medicare trust fund will be insolvent within a decade. That’s 2.9% taken out of your paycheck. Medicaid is the number one expense item in most states, consuming 30% of those state budgets, and that’s crowding out services like schools and public safety that many of you spend your career trying to develop,” Oz said during the hearing. “Health care cost-per-person in this country is twice that of other developed nations … Why is it costing us so much? Because of chronic disease. … They drive three quarters of the $1.7 trillion that CMS spends a year to support Americans’ health.”
Oz rose to fame in the early 2000s as a talk show host and a frequent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2022, he ran for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania as a Republican, losing to Democrat John Fetterman.
Oz previously served as the director of the Cardiovascular Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital and vice-chairman and professor of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 2018, he was named Professor Emeritus of Surgery. He in the past has come forward as a strong proponent of Medicare Advantage and further privatization of Medicare.
Oz’s career also has been steeped in controversy. During the COVID-19 pandemic he promoted the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which critics argued was not supported by sufficient evidence. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 revoked emergency authorization for the drug as a COVID treatment. At the time, Oz owned $630,000 in stock in two companies that produced hydroxychloroquine, CNBC reported in 2022.
He also came under fire for promoting certain products on his television show, including some intended for weight loss.
The home health and hospice communities plan to work with Oz and CMS to ensure that seriously and terminally ill patients have greater access to care in the home, according to Dr. Steve Landers, CEO of the National Alliance for Care at Home.
“The Alliance looks forward to working with Dr. Oz and CMS to protect and expand access to care in the home so that the millions of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who rely on these critical services will be able to timely receive them from high quality providers,” Landers said in a statement. “Supporting and advancing policies that promote and protect access to health care services in the home have never been more critical to meeting the needs of a growing aging population. Strengthening access to these services and implementing a strong, fair method of oversight ensures patients and families can make the decisions that best meet their needs. We look forward to working together to support policies that uphold these vital options.”
Some hospice operators also expressed a willingness to collaborate with the new CMS leader.
“Hospice plays a vital role in Medicare and Medicaid, ensuring that patients receive compassionate, patient-centered care while also reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and costs,” Nick Westfall, CEO of VITAS Healthcare, told Hospice News in an email. “The Medicare Hospice Benefit enhances quality of life in a patient’s final months while delivering significant savings to the healthcare system. We look forward to collaborating with Dr. Oz and CMS to advance policies that ensure more Americans benefit from the dignity, comfort, and support that hospice provides.”
The post Dr. Mehmet Oz Confirmed as CMS Administrator appeared first on Home Health Care News.
