Three Republican Senators Thursday said that the investigative arm of Congress - the Government Accountability Office – should look into the manner in which the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has spent the $10-billion funding that was extended under the 2010 health care overhaul regulation.

With the mentioned funds having been provided for the improvement of the quality of medical care, the three senators - Orrin Hatch (Utah); Michael Enzi (Wyoming); and Tom Coburn (Oklahoma) – have sought information from the Obama administration about the recipients of the grant, as well as how the administration intends spending the remaining part of its budget.

In their letter sent to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the senators said that “little to no actual value” had been provided by the CMMI about the spending of the mentioned funds.

Expressing the apprehension that the CMMI’s $10-billion budget is apparently a waste of money, the senators said that the worries about the manner in which the funds are being expended chiefly stem from the fact that the fiscal health of the US government currently passing through a time of significant uncertainty.

Noting that it is crucial that health care costs should be reduced to preserve the solvency of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Senators said in the letter: “We are concerned that the Administration’s current approach, operating within the fee-for-service system, will not achieve the spending reductions necessary to meet this goal.”