Senate confirms Oz to lead CMS

Key takeaways:

• The Senate confirmed Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, as CMS administrator.
• The vote was along party lines.

The Senate confirmed Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, as the next CMS administrator in a vote Thursday.

Known colloquially as “Dr. Oz,” the surgeon, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University and former television personality was confirmed in a 53-45 vote along party lines.

When the Senate Finance Committee advanced the nomination, Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, a Republican from Idaho, said Oz’s background “makes him uniquely qualified to manage the intricacies of CMS.” Conversely, ranking committee member Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, said that when asked a yes or no question about protecting Medicaid, Oz “dodged, weaved and simply wouldn’t answer.”

Along with Oz, the Senate has confirmed other health care picks from President Donald J. TrumpRobert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the HHS, Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, to lead the NIH and Martin Makary, MD, MPH, to lead the FDA. As head of CMS — an HHS subagency — Oz will report to Kennedy.

The confirmation comes on the heels of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-ordered HHS massive restructuring, which axed 20,000 jobs and consolidated HHS’ 28 divisions into 15 new divisions.

During Oz’s initial nomination hearing in mid-March, Wyden asked how Oz will “reign in” DOGE, which was granted access to CMS’ systems and technology.

At that point, Oz said he had talked to no one in the administration about DOGE but that if confirmed, “I intend to spend my first precious few weeks … speaking to the staff, raising morale, getting people excited and addressing what’s going on with DOGE and learning a lot more.”

This post was originally published on this site