The Senate Finance Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Marilyn Tavenner, currently the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, on Tuesday, April 9.

Tavenner was not given a hearing when she was first nominated for the post by President Barack Obama in 2011. She succeeded Donald Berwick, M.D., who faced stiff opposition from Republicans during the legislative battle over the Affordable Care Act. Berwick was never confirmed.

Despite continuing Republican opposition to the ACA, Tavenner has won considerable bipartisan support, and pundits say the move by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to schedule the hearing shows her nomination has a good chance of going through. Stakeholders in the long-term care sector have also backed her nomination.

“Having Marilyn Tavenner at the helm of CMS over the past year has helped strengthen and encourage our pursuit toward enhanced quality care,” American Health Care Association Mark Parkinson said in February.