Thomas Scully: ‘Medicare Makes Decisions On Coverage All The Time, I Made Decisions On Coverage All The Time’
Thomas Scully: ‘Medicare Makes Decisions On Coverage All The Time, I Made Decisions On Coverage All The Time’
Today, the Center for American Progress Action Fund hosted a forum to discuss how the Medicare program can inform this year’s health care reform debate. After the event, ThinkProgress sat down with Thomas Scully, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from 2001-2003, and asked him to respond to conservatives (like Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)) who argue that health information technology and comparative effectiveness research would ration health care:
I had a lot of those fights because the reality is the government should be able to look at what’s the appropriate level for PET scans or MRIs?…You know, Medicare makes decisions on coverage all the time. I made decisions on coverage all the time based on what I thought was not – on comparative effectiveness research. You got to do it the right way. But I think – I’ve always been a big fan of comparative effectiveness research if done correctly.
Watch it:
Scully dismissed the likes of Sally Pipes and Betsy McCaughey as “just noise” and argued that since Republicans are in the minority, “their job is to hurl attacks,” just as some Democrats did during the debate surrounding Medicare Part D.
Asked if the odds of health reform are better this year, Scully predicted that “the odds are lower” of passing health reform now “because the economy is in such bad shape, I think it’s going to be very difficult to finance this thing.” “I don’t think that the core people that are really in the weeds of health care in the Senate is as big as it was…I don’t think there is a group of 20 guys that really are health care wonks like there was 15 years ago,” Scully explained.
During the panel discussion, however, Scully admitted that the world would have been a better place had Congress passed President Clinton’s health reform plan. “They made a lot of strategic errors back then…but the core issue was trying to fix the commercial insurance option…which is the right thing to do, they probably went too far… but had the plan passed back then, the fundamental concept behind it was regional purchasing cooperatives with a better structured insurance market, which is exactly what we’re talking about right now.”
Transcript:
SCULLY: The government does it anyway. I think there’s got to be limitations, but I think the reality is — look, I had a lot of fights – I’ve had giant fights. I declared the two biggest drugs in Medicare, (inaudible), to be functionally equivalent because they were. I got attacked by the drug companies. I had a lot of those fights because the reality is the government should be able to look at what’s the appropriate level for PET scans or MRIs? I never gave a speech – in four years I haven’t given a speech yet without beating up Nexium. Nexium’s the most bogus drug ever made. Nobody should ever take Nexium. Prilosec’s the same thing. So the government should be out there saying, ‘we’re not paying for Nexium, we’re paying for Prilosec.
THINK PROGRESS: So you, because there’s the controversy over CR obviously is cost and can you use CR research to deny coverage?
SCULLY: Absolutely.
THINK PROGRESS: So you would approve –?
SCULLY: I did it at CMS all the time. People talk about it and say it’s the right thing to do. There’s no question, in my opinion it’s absolutely the right thing to do. There’s a lot of fear from some people that it’s going to stifle innovation of drugs and devices and other things and I just don’t that’s correct. I think the political system is – patients want good drugs, they want good devices, they want good anti-cancer radiation and Medicare denies service every day. I like Senator Kyl, he’s a very big free market guy, he’s got a lot of doctors in Arizona that are very worried about this. And so, like any member of congress he tries to please constituents. He’s one of the nicest people to ever meet. One this one I obviously don’t agree with him. You know, Medicare makes decisions on coverage all the time. I made decisions on coverage all the time based on what I thought was not – (inaudible) research. You got to do it the right way. But I think – I’ve always been a big fan of (inaudible) research if done correctly.
I’m a big fan of Health IT and I wish I would have done more. My problem with Health IT and I don’t blame republicans for this but I spent a lot of time on Medicare forms and trying to fix CMS. I’m a huge fan of Health IT and it can save a lot of money, but you’ve got to have mandates for one platform. I think its crazy for us to spend 25-30 million dollars on Health IT when every hospital and every doctor’s office has something different. We should say look, if you want Health care IT from the federal government, if you want to get paid by Medicare and Medicaid, great – you can use any one of sixty vendors but just like ATMs at banks…
13 Responses to “Thomas Scully: ‘Medicare Makes Decisions On Coverage All The Time, I Made Decisions On Coverage All The Time’”
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Tom Scully is a private equity underwriter (PEU), just like Nancy-Ann DeParle. Tom’s a big cheese for Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. They own US Oncology, amongst numerous other health care firms. They sold Quorum Health Group to Triad Hospitals, where Nancy-Ann sat on the board of directors.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:14 pmIt’s over two years old but reveals some things about Tom Scully and other faux health care reformers:
http://stateofthedivision.blogspot.com/2006/12/how-did-we-get-here.html
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:17 pmTom was the head of the Federation of American Hospitals, the trade group for for-profit hospitals. He did that for many years.
Recall the Scully who refused to testify before Congressional committees.
He interviewed for lobbying jobs while still at CMS, landing a sweet spot at Alston & Bird, next to Tom Daschle and Bob Dole.
Then came the Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe plum. He’s a big money, for-profit health care man, like our White House Health Czar.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:23 pmWhen Tom Scully becomes the progressive voice in this country, America is in trouble.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:37 pmI take it PEU/lobbyist Tom Scully didn’t confess to serving on the Board of Richard Scott’s Solantic:
http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Healthcare-Veteran-Joins-Solantic-Board-of-Directors-21469-1/
WR, you’ve been Scullied! Tom lobbied for 23 health care organizations in the last election cycle, most are for-profit firms.
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?lname=Scully%2C+Thomas+A&id=U00000008701&year=2008
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:43 pmThis Thomas Scully? From the John Kerry website in 2004.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:46 pmHe is credible on the topic now?
Columbia/HCA villain Richard Scott and Tom Scully are tight:
Solantic, a Florida-based healthcare provider of full-service walk-in urgent care, today announced the appointment of Tom Scully to its Board of Directors. Mr. Scully is currently a General Partner with New York City Private Equity Firm, Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe (WCAS), the largest private equity investor in healthcare. In addition, Mr. Scully is senior counsel at Alston and Bird, a Washington, DC-based law practice focusing on healthcare regulatory and legislative matters. lobbyist
“Tom brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the board that will undoubtedly further propel Solantic to the next level in achieving its goals and objectives,” said Richard L. Scott, Chairman and Co-Founder of Solantic. “His experience with America’s healthcare system at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and numerous other national healthcare programs will surely have a positive impact on the company.”
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:50 amScully used to be the head of the for-profit hospital trade group, i.e. lobbyist. An article mentioned Tom’s job of promoting Ric Scott, way back when.
Columbia/HCA on hospital buying spreeArticle Abstract:
Voluntary hospitals face two threats from for-profit hospital chain Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp: the company is quickly buying up hospitals; and its cost efficiencies are hard for nonprofits to match. Federation of American Health Systems Exec Dir Tom Scully explained that shareholder demands force investor-owned hospital companies, such as Columbia/HCA, to operate efficiently. Some observers fear, however, that high efficiency might stifle medical-technology investments.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 amAnyone who’s a fan of comparative effectiveness research knows that the bang-for-buck ratio of preventative care is about 1.40, which is why the universal public option scores so much less expensive than all the other plans which don’t include it. The partial plans with high deductibles and other anti-preventative care provisions that people end up with result in so many more emergency room visits followed by long stays than universal coverage providing preventative care.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:23 amScully is a conservative lobbyist, equity underwriter, for-profit health care advocate, etc. Which is exactly why his views on comparative effective research are so interesting and worth considering – they go against the party line being spewed by those he would normally support.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:03 amClinical research is done via patient trials. Comparative effectiveness research remains murky. Insurance companies have huge billing databases they want to mine and sell.
No Child Left Behind produced a new huge industry, educational testing. Health care reform could do likewise, and insurance companies are scheming to sell what they already have.
Will CRE be prospective or retroactive. The details warrant watching.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 amNot only does Scully’s Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe own Richard Scott’s Solantic, it has a health care cost management company in its portfolio, Viant.
http://www.welshcarson.com/portfolio_Companies/Healthcare/index.asp?Section=5,2,0
Viant delivers comprehensive cost control strategies to payers in the health care industry through its comprehensive suite of PPO network, network management, pre-payment and post-payment services. Viant Networks ( Beech Street, Texas True Choice, ppoNEXT).
Might Viant get some of that CRE money?
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 amMore on Rick Scott from NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/us/politics/02scott.html?ref=global-home&pagewanted=all
Rick Scott’s Solantic is owned by Scully’s WCAS. They worked together at the Federation of American Hospitals.
April 4th, 2009 at 12:24 am