May 11, 2017 – Former Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Andy Slavitt has joined healthcare innovation network AVIA as a senior advisor, the company announced.”One of the principal areas I will focus on is what major healthcare organizations need to do differently for our country to succeed in transforming patient care. We have small scale innovation all over, but until physicians, patients, and systems can absorb and benefit at scale, our healthcare system will remain stalled,” Slavitt said. “I found AVIA to have one of the highest impact approaches to transformation and am pleased to be a part of this important effort.”
During his time at CMS, Slavitt oversaw the Medicare and Medicaid programs as well as the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace. He also helped lead the shift to value-based care via the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which won bipartisan support.
“Under his leadership, hospitals and Medicare partnered to improve patient safety, resulting in 3 million fewer hospital-acquired conditions, 125,000 patient deaths avoided, and $28 billion in cost savings,” AVIA said in a statement.
The AVIA announcement comes roughly two months after Slavitt signed on in a senior advisor role with the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Slavitt told the Washington Post he plans to solicit the input of governors, medical leaders and state health officials. “There will hopefully come a time when policy people in D.C. look to voices like that. I don’t think that time is today.”
