Right Now
May 09 2012
HHS Announces 26 Grants From Innovation Center But Data Suggests It’s Likely A Waste of Money
Today HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the first round of organizations receiving Health Care Innovation awards. These awards were funded from the Innovation Center created in Obamacare. The awards will support 26 projects nationwide that HHS claims will “save money, deliver high quality medical care and enhance the health care workforce.”
Today’s awards total $122.6 million and the awardees announced today expect to reduce health spending by $254 million over the next three years. The new projects include collaborations of leading hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technology innovators, community-based organizations, and patients’ advocacy groups, among others, located in urban and rural areas that will begin work this year to address health care issues in local communities. The Innovation Center is administering these awards through cooperative agreements.
In describing these awards, the Innovation Center on its website say:
“Descriptions and project data (e.g. gross savings estimates, population served, etc.) are 3 year estimates provided by each organization and are based on budget submissions required by the Health Care Innovation Awards application process. While all projects are expected to produce cost savings beyond the 3 year grant award, some may not achieve net cost savings until after the initial 3-year period due to start-up-costs, change in care patterns and intervention effect on health status.” (emphasis added)
In other words, the Innovation Center is spending $122 million to possibly save $254 million – which would be a net savings of $132 million over three years ($44 million per year). However, CMS has no guarantee built in to ensure that taxpayers actually see return on their investment.
HHS’s announcement of 26 new grants today is a missed opportunity to truly prioritize innovation. Over a three year period HHS will spend taxpayer dollars without any guarantee of return on investment. HHS’ own website admits that, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars, projects ‘may not achieve net cost savings’ for taxpayers during the project period. As I said in an oversight report with Sen. Barrasso, Warning: Side Effects, ‘Instead of letting bureaucrats gamble with billions of taxpayer dollars,’ in the Innovation Center, ‘Congress should have adopted proven, common-sense measures to help millions of seniors who depend on the program.’
Additionally, this week Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marylyn Tavenner sent Dr. Coburn this letter, responding to two separate letters requesting information about and expressing concern regarding the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center).
Read the letter from Senators Coburn, Enzi, and Hatch sent November 10, 2011. The senators sent a follow-up letter on April 26, 2012.
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| 9/13/12 | Dr. Coburn's Amendments to the Veterans Job Corps Act of 2012 |
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| 6/19/12 | Farm Bill Amendments Update |
| 6/12/12 | Dr. Coburn's Amendments to the S. 3240, Farm Bill |
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| 7/27/11 | 9,000,000,000,000 Ways to Balance the Budget |
| 7/22/11 | Dr. Coburn on C-SPAN's Washington Journal This Morning |
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| 4/13/11 | New Report Reveals Overbilling of Treasury Department by Law Firms, Misuse of TARP Funds |
| 4/4/11 | Dr. Coburn's amendments to cut spending by $20 billion |
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| 11/17/10 | Today, Dr. Coburn filed two amendments to the Food Safety bill |
| 11/10/10 | Earmark Myths and Realities |
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| 10/26/10 | What Others Are Saying About "Grim Diagnosis" |
| 10/7/10 | Dr. Coburn Not Holding Aid to Haiti |
| 10/4/10 | HHS ADMINISTRATIVE FAILURE |
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| 11/18/09 | Coburn's efforts to improve the Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act |
| 11/5/09 | Facts about the Veterans Caregiver Bill |
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| 8/6/09 | Clunkers for Charity |
| 8/4/09 | Coburn Amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill |
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| 6/16/09 | Dr. Coburn Releases Stimulus Oversight Report |
| 6/2/09 | Coburn Amendments to the Family Smoking and Prevention Act |
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| 5/12/09 | Coburn Gun Amendments 1067 and 1068 |
| 5/5/09 | Coburn Offers Amendment to Dispose of Unneeded Federal Buildings |
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| 4/22/09 | Coburn Amendments to The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act |
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| 1/29/09 | Senate Rejects Opportunity to Provide Health Care to Needy Children at No Additional Cost |
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| 10/16/08 | Highlights of Senator Reid's Omnibus Lands Grab and Energy Restrictions Act Scheduled for Debate Next Month |
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| 9/26/08 | Reid Neglects Economy to Pursue Pet Projects |
| 9/17/08 | Reid's Monkey Business Continues |
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| 8/21/08 | Coburn Applauds HHS Action on Physician Conscience Rights |
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| 3/14/08 | Dr. Coburn's Efforts Fix GINA |
| 3/11/08 | Coburn's Speech on the 2009 Budget |
| 3/3/08 | Dr. Coburn Amendment to Ensure Scientists Conduct Research, Not Politicians |
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| 2/14/08 | Dr. Coburn's amendments to fix the broken Indian Health Care system |
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| 1/29/08 | Dr. Coburn's Federal Land Bill Amendments |
| 1/24/08 | Coburn's official visit to Taiwan |
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| 8/28/07 | Congress celebrates the Year of the Golden Pig |
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| 2/14/07 | Debating the continuing resolution |
| 2/7/07 | What's next for the War in Iraq? |
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| 12/14/06 | 109th Congress Convenes |
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| 11/16/06 | Coburn amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations bill |
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| 9/26/06 | Ryan White CARE Act Reauthorization |
| 9/26/06 | President Bush Signs Coburn/Obama Transparency Act |
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| 8/23/06 | Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act |
| 8/2/06 | Coburn amendments to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill |
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| 12/14/05 | Dr. Coburn letter to HHS on Ryan White CARE Act formulas and ADAP funding |