Marilyn Tavenner, Obamacare overseer, resigns from CMS
Tavenner’s five-year tenure was marred by the disastrous launch of the law’s health insurance exchange, Heathcare.gov, in October 2013.
Marilyn Tavenner, Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services delievers remarks at the HHS 2014 Budget Press Conference, April 10, 2013.
Marilyn Tavenner, the senior government official responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act, is stepping down at the end of February.
Tavenner is administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Tavenner’s five-year tenure was marred by the disastrous launch of the law’s health insurance exchange, Heathcare.gov, in October 2013. The site was down for two months after prospective enrollees couldn’t enroll through the unstable website. More recently, Tavenner in November admitted to making an error that resulted in CMS overstating the number of people enrolled in Obamacare. The agency double counted more nearly 400,000 people.
Tavenner is expected to be replaced by second-ranking official Andrew Slavitt, who will take over as acting administrator.
During Tavenner's tenure, Medicaid programs were expanded in 27 states and the District of Columbia as part of the Affordable Care Act. Tavenner also oversaw the agency's Medicare Shared Savings Program, which helped spur the formation of accountable care networks across the country due to its incentive program. Participating ACOs can earn back up to half of the savings they generate by hitting certain patient benchmarks.
Tavenner also oversaw the Federal Electronic Health Records Incentive Program and was in charge of the transition to ICD-10, the new diagnostic coding vocabulary that providers must change over to by October.
Anthony Brino contributed to this report
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