CMS tech returns to lion’s den

Henry Chao, a HealthCare.gov technology manager, returned to Capitol Hill today for another Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act hearing.

Chao, the deputy chief information officer at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, told lawmakers he’s a career civil servant who simply tried to implement the vision of Marilyn Tavenner, the CMS administrator, and other higher-level managers and policy makers.

“I didn’t get to pick what date we started,” Chao said, and he said he wasn’t at the meetings at which the launch date was set.

Chao spoke at a HealthCare.gov security hearing organized by the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee.

Earlier, the Washington Post published an article based on a memo, released in the spring, in which McKinsey talked about what they thought was poor, disorganized management of the HealthCare.gov development effort by CMS.

Democrats on the committee blasted their Republican counterparts for sharing the memo with reporters before sharing it with them.

Chao said the McKinsey consultants had interviewed him for the report at least twice but that he hadn’t heard much about what was in the final report.