Medicare: HCFA Faces Multiple Challenges to Prepare for the 21st Century.Statement of William J. Scanlon, Director Health Financing and Systems Issues, Health, Education and Human Services Division

摘要

You asked us to comment on (HCFA) ability to meet growing program managementchallenges. My statement today centers on HCFA's administration of the Medicare program, although HCFA also has shared responsibilities with the states for administering Medicaid, a program serving low-income Americans. More specifically, my remarks will focus on (1) HCFA's new authorities under recent Medicare legislation, (2) HCFA managers' views on the agency's capacity to carry out various Medicare-related functions, and (3) the actions HCFA needs to take to accomplish it objectives over the next several years. To do this work, we obtained agency documents on HCFA's reorganization and revised processes and interviewed top agency officials, including the new Administrator. In addition, we conducted small focus groups attended by about 60 senior and mid-level managers. We also relied on our previous and ongoing work on Medicare.