WASHINGTON – The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) applauds the nomination of Marilyn Tavenner as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and urges the U.S. Senate to schedule confirmation hearings and floor action on her nomination, saying the implementation of health care reform will benefit from her strong leadership and hands-on health care experience.
ACEP issued a statement by its president, David Seaberg, MD, FACEP:
“Marilyn Tavenner’s experiences as a nurse, hospital administrator, Medicaid official and principal deputy administrator at CMS give her the versatility and vision to lead CMS through health care reform implementation. We will continue to work with the agency to address the many challenges in our emergency medical care system, which is a window onto the entire American health care system. In 2009, emergency departments treated 136 million people of every description: young and old, rich and poor, insured and insured. And yet it accounted for just 2 percent of the nation’s health care dollar.
“On behalf of the nation’s emergency physicians, I applaud Ms. Tavenner’s nomination to head up CMS and urge the Senate to confirm her appointment. We look forward to working with her to shore up our emergency care system and to ensure that our patients have access to emergency care whenever and wherever they need it.”
ACEP is a national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.
