Senate confirms Tavenner
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fieldale native Marilyn Tavenner was confirmed Wednesday by the U.S. Senate as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by a vote of 91 to 7.
Tavenner is the first Senate-confirmed CMS administrator since 2006.
Because she was nominated for the position by President Barack Obama, only Senate confirmation was needed, according to a spokesman for Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
Tavenner has served as CMS acting administrator since late 2011. She succeeded Donald Berwick, a recess appointment who never was confirmed by the Senate.
CMS oversees Medicare, Medicaid, children’s health insurance and coverage for the uninsured under Obama’s health care overhaul. Its programs cover more than 100 million Americans, ranging from newborns in low-income families, to people with severe physical and mental disabilities, to patients under hospice care, according to The Huffington Post’s website.
The agency is part of the Health and Human Services Department, and it has a budget of about $850 billion, more than spending on national defense, the website stated. It added that Obama’s health care overhaul will broaden the agency’s reach as 25 million or more uninsured people gain coverage beginning next year.
Before Wednesday’s confirmation vote, Kaine and Sen. Mark Warner went to the Senate floor to praise Tavenner for her common-sense leadership and exemplary qualifications.
“I’ve known Marilyn Tavenner for 25 years, and she is a phenomenal choice to lead CMS at this important time,” said Warner, D-Va. and also a former Virginia governor. “I congratulate Marilyn on today’s Senate confirmation vote.”
When Kaine was elected governor in 2005, he named Tavenner the state’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources.
“When I was governor and we were dealing with a national recession, there was no one in my cabinet who was more creative and passionate about achieving savings without sacrificing patient care,” he said. “As we wrestle with Medicaid and Medicare costs, I can’t think of a better person to be in charge. Marilyn’s experience, her focus on patients from her background as a nurse, her spectacular success at smart cost-cutting and especially her proven capacity to be creative and innovative in reaching results merit our support for her.”
“I’m excited we will be casting this vote today (Wednesday). I think the fact that the United States will have a confirmed administrator who can really plow forward on initiatives will be for the good of this country,” Kaine added.
Tavenner is a 1969 graduate of Fieldale-Collinsville High School.
She worked her way through school, was a nurse for nearly 20 years and ultimately rose to serve as a hospital CEO in Richmond.
Tavenner also has held positions as the Richmond market president for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), overseeing five facilities in the Richmond area with 1,600 beds and a staff of 4,600, and as the president of HCA’s Central Atlantic Division, where she was responsible for 20 hospitals and four ambulatory surgery centers.
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