Analysts working under Elon Musk as part of President Trump’s cost-cutting DOGE initiative have gained access to key payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The parent agency of Medicare and Medicaid, CMS sits at the center of the U.S. public health system and is responsible for about $1.5 trillion in spending in fiscal year 2024, nearly a quarter of all federal spending. DOGE officials said they are beginning to examine the technology that powers the various CMS systems, as well as the payment flows through them, with a focus on potential waste and fraud. The analysts are also looking at the organizational structure and staffing levels at CMS.
In a statement, CMS confirmed that two agency employees are working with the DOGE team, one focused on policy and the other on operations. “We are taking a thoughtful approach to see where there may be opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources in line with meeting the goals of President Trump,” CMS said.
Musk was more pointed in his assessment of the effort. “Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening,” he said on X, the social media platform he owns.
DOGE officials haven’t yet gained access to files with personal medical or payment information, a source told the Journal. But they do have access to the Acquisition Lifecycle Management system, known as CALM, which includes information about federal contracts. They have also sought access to the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System, known as HIGLAS, which The Washington Post says “is tightly controlled, contains sensitive financial information about all of the hospitals, physicians and other organizations that have financial relationships with programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act — a vast database that touches nearly every corner of American health care.”