After three-plus years in charge of program integrity efforts for Medicare and Medicaid, Peter Budetti is retiring. An internal e-mail from CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner said Budetti's last day will be Sept. 11. 

"Peter, with the support of a strong team, realigned the structure of program integrity in the agency and CPI took on the challenge of moving beyond pay-and-chase antifraud activities to preventing fraud before it has a chance to start," Tavenner said in her e-mail. Elizabeth "Lis" Handley will take over Budetti's role on an acting basis.

Budetti was the first director of CMS's Center for Program Integrity (CPI), and also served as a CMS deputy administrator. The CPI was created in February 2010, and coordinates Medicare and Medicaid program integrity initiatives under one department. A CMS spokesman told me that Budetti was retiring, with no immediate business plans for the future.