Verma raps accrediting organizations’ ‘glaring conflict of interest’

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma took a swipe at accrediting organizations, noting that when they accept consulting fees from the hospitals they grade it creates “a glaring conflict of interest.”

Delivering the opening remarks at the 2020 CMS Quality Conference in Washington, D.C., Verma said her agency is “looking at ways to enhance our oversight of accrediting organizations.”

“You’re going to see more from us on this issue in the near future,” she said.

Verma said that CMS in recent years has found inconsistencies in the way accrediting organizations inspect providers.

“Some even use standards that differ from our own, which is simply not acceptable,” she said.

CMS in December 2018 put out a request for information from accrediting organizations that Verma says was designed to “ascertain the scope of the issue.”

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