A coalition of 35 patient, physician, and hospital groups has written to new Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price and asked him to continue the federal government’s exploration of new ways to deliver and pay for Medicare services but to seek certain improvements in how those efforts are undertaken.

The coalition Healthcare Leaders for Accountable Innovation in Medicare asked Secretary Price for a reformed Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation so that it operates with

… appropriately-scaled, time-limited demonstration projects, greater transparency, improved data-sharing, and broader collaboration with the private sector.

The coalition also called for CMMI to operate under six guiding principles:

  • foster strong, scientifically valid testing prior to expansion
  • respect Congress’s role in making health policy changes
  • consistently provide transparency and meaningful stakeholder engagement
  • improve data sharing from CMMI testing
  • strengthen beneficiary safeguards
  • collaborate with the private sector

Read the coalition’s entire letter, including a list of the group’s members, here on the web site of the Healthcare Leadership Council.