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.

I have often said that the best action that CMS can take to support state innovation is to get out of the way. We’ve heard loud and clear that states want room to explore new ways of delivering care and designing programs to help their Medicaid beneficiaries live healthier, more independent lives.