The CMS Office of Policy

So, I now found another place within CMS that is interested in having me on board: the Office of Policy. This is essentially the Administrator's think tank, and suffers a bit from the current lack of an Administrator. Karen Milgate, with whom we met a long tome ago in a faraway galaxy, is optimistic that there will be an administrator soon, and that, once that happens, they will be moving ahead.

Working here would be much more akin to working as a graduate student; I would be given several projects, on one of which I would be the lead, and I would go forth. Most of what they are working on right now is Medicare related, looking at geographic variations and the relationship between cost variation and service delivery, some work on the issue of dual eligibles, some things related to CER, EHR and other hot topics. They are really interested in the idea of having a clinical person work with them on these projects, and offer insights into that process. They freely admit that they don't have a lot to do with CMSO at present, but the the new director of that Center does have an agenda that she is trying to push actively. And they want me to come to visit.

I asked a bit about how Health Reform was going to work its way through CMS. They said that the Office of Legislation would have little to do with it; that we would more likely see activity in Baltimore, with some input from the Office of Policy providing background research to inform the decisions. All of this, of course, would depend on the Administrator.

Tomorrow, I will be meeting the acting ASPE. And I continue to wait on the Hill. We will see.