Senate Finance Committee holds confirmation hearing for CMS administrator

The Senate Finance Committee today held a confirmation hearing for health care consultant Seema Verma, President Trump’s nominee to serve as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator. During the hearing, Verma voiced support for helping rural and other health care providers avoid unnecessary burdens from federal regulatory requirements, including meaningful use of electronic health records. “I think we have to be very careful with our rural providers to make sure that we’re not putting additional burdens on them that actually impact accessibility to care and quality of care,” Verma said. Among other comments, she said providers shouldn’t be required to participate in tests of different Medicare payment approaches, and voiced support for reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program.