Smith Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Protect Medicare Patients and Providers

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) released the following statement today after the introduction of his bill, the Strengthening Innovation in Medicare and Medicaid Act, to restore accountability for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) through commonsense guardrails.

"Innovation is key in health care, and CMMI has an important role in improving health care delivery for the future. However, CMMI currently operates under a poorly defined framework which fails to provide for adequate oversight or transparency. This bill would reduce uncertainty throughout the health care marketplace by providing for appropriate oversight of CMMI, while striving for the ultimate goals of lower health care costs and improved quality of care."

CMMI was created to rapidly test new methods of payment or patient care intending to lower costs and improve patient outcomes. However, CMMI was given overly broad exemptions from existing regulations and judicial review, allowing these models to make sweeping changes without any Congressional oversight. These models can cause uncertainty for health care providers and force patients into mandatory demonstration projects which impact the way they receive dialysis, cancer treatment, or prescription drugs.

This legislation will reduce the uncertainty for both patients and providers by strengthening CMMI's model testing process. It will ensure new models are appropriately limited in size and scope during initial testing, while reasserting Congressional authority to renew model expansion, bringing much-needed transparency to CMMI operations, and creating additional opportunities to improve quality of care for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Smith, a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, was joined by Representatives Terri Sewell (D-AL), John Shimkus (R-IL), and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) in introducing this legislation.