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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is launching a recruitment drive, following significant staffing cuts made in the previous year. The agency is on a hiring spree for about 1,200 employees, with a focus on IT talent who can assist in cracking down on fraudulent payments. CMS is also intensifying its use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in its operations, with 80% of its workforce using AI, saving a total of 11,000 work hours each week.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is hiring new staff, predominantly IT specialists and those adept at detecting fraudulent payments, following a 15% reduction in its workforce since 2024.
The acting deputy director of CMS’ Office of Information Technology, Tiffany Swygert, announced the recruitment of about 1,200 new employees at the AFCEA’s Health IT Summit, including around 100 in OIT. Recruitment will primarily focus on full-stack engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and tech shop managers.
Additionally, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month announced plans to hire 12,000 employees to reverse last year’s HHS staffing cuts.
CMS is also enhancing its use of AI tools, with 80% of its workforce incorporating AI into their daily tasks, saving a collective 11,000 work hours each week. Bethany Messick, acting deputy director of the CMS Center for Program Integrity, revealed her office is similarly hiring and utilizing AI to bolster their fraud oversight work.
Messick’s office is recruiting data scientists, software engineers, and forensic accountants to manage the various systems and crunch out data trends. Expertise in data visualization is also being sought to clearly convey information in legal documents.
The CMS is playing a pivotal role in the Trump administration’s government-wide fraud task force. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said at a White House event last year that the agency is soliciting ideas from the public to tackle Medicare fraud.
The CMS Fraud Defense Operations Center, established last year, has evaluated around 300 Medicare providers and recovered about $2 billion in fraudulent payments. The Center for Program Integrity is now seeking to replicate these fraud-detection capabilities for Medicaid spending, while also utilizing AI for fraud detection.
Last year, the Center for Program Integrity initiated a “chili cook-off,” an event that called on vendors to showcase tools for identifying fraud. Following the event’s success, Messick’s office is building on it to explore additional opportunities to use agentic AI for fraud prevention.
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