Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced on Jan. 16 that she will step down from her post at the end of February. During Tavenner’s three years leading the Agency, the U.S. health care system underwent a significant transformation with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion.

“With those changes came a whole new set of responsibilities and a spotlight that brightly shown on all of us as we managed the largest federal agency budget, strong opinions across the nation, and our ultimate mission of improving our country's healthcare system and saving lives,” Tavenner said in her resignation letter to CMS colleagues. “But with your hard work, dedication, commitment and resolve, you cleared the path and laid out a plan for all that we needed to accomplish.”

In response to Tavenner’s announcement, ACC President Patrick T. O’Gara, MD, FACC, issued the following statement:

“Marilyn Tavenner has led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during a very challenging time in American health care. On behalf of the American College of Cardiology, I thank her for her professionalism and dedication, and for working with physicians to provide quality health care to their patients. We wish her well in her future endeavors and look forward to working with her successor on important cardiovascular issues.” 

Keywords: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S., Health Services Needs and Demand, Medicaid, Medicare, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Quality of Health Care, United States

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