Washington, DC – Today, Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (R-LA) requested information from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) awarding $123 million in grants.  Recent reports on grant making activities at CMMI reveal that taxpayer dollars may be going to waste.  One physician who participated in the grant application review process wrote in a recent Wall Street Journal piece that the grant program is “one more pork program,” and that it operates with “few safeguards and little transparency.”
 
Boustany stated, “The Democrats’ health care law gives CMMI $10 billion in taxpayer dollars every decade without a shred of transparency, accountability or congressional review.  In fact, the law explicitly shields CMMI’s decisions from public review.  We must hold CMMI accountable and protect hardworking taxpayers.”
 
Last year, HHS announced plans to hand out $1 billion in CMMI grants.  In May of this year, HHS announced the first round of CMMI grants, totaling $123 million to 26 organizations and ranging from approximately $1 million to $30 million for a three-year period.

The full text of the letter can be read here.