Jonathan Blum, principal deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be stepping down from his position on May 16.
The announcement came by way of an internal email via CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
"It is with mixed emotions that I let you know that our Principal Deputy Administrator, Jonathan (Jon) Blum, has decided to leave CMS to pursue new opportunities," Tavenner wrote. "Under Jon’s leadership, the Medicare program has served as one of our primary drivers to shift our health care system to reward quality, care improvement, and value. The Medicare team’s accomplishments are too many to list, but include developing the ACO regulations, implementing our quality framework for Medicare Advantage plans, implementing our competitive bidding program for durable medical supplies, and developing many of our value-based payment strategies."
According to Tavenner's email, Medicare per-capita cost growth has remained at the lowest sustained period under Jon’s tenure, while quality of care has increased and new benefits have been added to the program.
When he steps down, Blum will have held the principal deputy position since last year August. In his leadership roles at CMS, Blum has been very vocal in his support of ACOs.
From 2009-2013, Blum was the director of the Center for Medicare at CMS. During his tenure, Blum has overseen the regulation and payment of fee-for-service Medicare providers, which during the past few years has faced ever- increasing pressure from physician stakeholders to reform the antiquated sustainable growth rate payment formula.
On Tuesday, April 1, President Barack Obama signed the "Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014," HR 4302, which creates a one-year patch for the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) Medicare physician payment formula, to April 2015.
His departure follows HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ resignation earlier this month. HHS, the agency that presides over CMS, has faced significant criticism over the less-than-perfect launch of Healthcare.gov last year.
See also:
CMS releases Medicare physician care usage stats
As new ACOs launch, CMS digs in for savings
