February 3, 2014- By Steven E. Greer, MD
The Healthcare Channel was the first to report in 2012 that the new CMMI, created by the ACA “Obamacare” law, was nothing but a pork project designed to deliver funds to political cronies. Subsequent to our reporting, the senate convened oversight hearings, and the director of CMMI was fired.
Today, the New York Times reports that the quality of “research” coming out of CMMI is suspect. Gina Kolata writes, ” The idea seemed transformative. The Affordable Care Act would fund a new research outfit evocatively named the Innovation Center to discover how to most effectively deliver health care, with $10 billion to spend over a decade. But now that the center has gotten started, many researchers and economists are disturbed that it is not using randomized clinical trials, the rigorous method that is widely considered the gold standard in medical and social science research. Such trials have long been required to prove the efficacy of medicines, and similarly designed studies have guided efforts to reform welfare-to-work, education and criminal justice programs.”
CMMI Director leaves after Healthcare Channel investigates
Senate Finance Committee hearing on CMMI
The first cuts to Medicare should eliminate the $10 Billion CMMI pork project
The Medicare CMMI pork project needs to be nipped in the bud