One of my commitments as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is to ensure we remain steadfast in our commitment to strengthen Medicare by making sure that tax dollars are spent appropriately.

Today is National Rural Health Day, an important day for all of us at CMS and, more importantly, for the work we do every day to improve the health of those living in our nation’s rural communities.

Earlier this year, we released preliminary participation data on clinicians eligible to participate in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) under the Quality Payment Program (QPP). This program was a big change for many clinicians, and this year we saw a high participation rate and an emphasis on working to improve outcomes for our beneficiaries.

If your instincts tell you something is too good to be true, then maybe it is. When listening to those advocating ‘Medicare for All’ it’s good to be skeptical about their promises. As head of the agency that serves over 58 million Medicare beneficiaries, I deal first-hand with the challenges of government run healthcare.