Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Agency overview
Formed  1965
Preceding Agency Health Care Financing Administration (1977-2001)
Headquarters Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland
Employees 4,100
Agency executive Marilyn Tavenner
Website www.cms.gov

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), previously known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), is a federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that administers the Medicare program and works in partnership with state governments to administer Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and health insurance portability standards. In addition to these programs, CMS has other responsibilities, including the administrative simplification standards from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), quality standards in long-term care facilities (more commonly referred to as nursing homes) through its survey and certification process, clinical laboratory quality standards under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, and oversight of HealthCare.gov.

History

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments on July 30, 1965, establishing both Medicare and Medicaid. The Social Security Administration (SSA) became responsible for the administration of Medicare and the Social and Rehabilitation Service (SRS) became responsible for the administration of Medicaid. Both agencies were organized under what was then known as the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).

In 1977, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) was established under HEW. HCFA became responsible for the coordination of Medicare and Medicaid. The responsibility for enrolling beneficiaries into Medicare and processing premium payments remained with SSA.

The CMS developed and uses several systems to classify Medicare cases. Hospital cases are classified using the Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG); outpatient cases are classified using the Ambulatory Patient Group (APG). These systems are used to determine how much Medicare pays the hospital or provider for each service or product.

Workforce

The CMS employs over 6,000 employees, of which about 4,000 are located at its headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland. The remaining employees are located in the Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., the 10 regional offices listed below, and in various field offices located throughout the United States.

The head of the CMS is the Administrator of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The position is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.[1]

Regional offices

CMS has its headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland, with 10 regional offices located throughout the United States:

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
New Jersey, New York, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, the Territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kliff, Sarah (23 Nov 2011), "Medicare administrator Donald Berwick resigns in the face of Republican opposition", The Washington Post, retrieved 24 Nov 2011

External links