BALTIMORE--CMS Medical Director Sean Tunis has been placed on administrative leave, charged with falsifying medical records, according to reports.

The director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality at CMS has been charged by the Maryland Board of Physicians with altering documents to show he had complied with state continuing medical education requirements. In response to those charges, the government put Tunis on administrative leave on Thursday, a CMS spokesman told the Associated Press.

Dr. Barry Straub of CMS' Region IX in San Francisco will take Tunis' place as the agency's chief medical officer. The spokesman did not comment on whether Tunis would return to his position if the situation with the Maryland board is resolved.

Tunis is charged with submitting false statements regarding his continuing medical education--required to maintain his license and medical privileges at Mercy Medical Center, where he works part-time--on three consecutive reappointment applications. The board claims he also "persistently failed to comply" with subpoenas.

In a written response, Tunis admitted to the allegations, BNA reported, saying he attempted to reproduce lost records of CME credits he had obtained legitimately.

The board began its investigation after receiving an anonymous written complaint in July 2002. Tunis wrote that the complaint came from a "disgruntled CMS subordinate" whom he passed over for a promotion, reports said.

Tunis headed the government's Interagency Wheelchair Work Group, which worked last year to develop new coverage guidance for Medicare's mobility benefit. The panel ultimately produced a proposal--still pending final approval--that called for Medicare to move to an approach based more on "functional characteristics that are evidence-based [that] will better predict who would benefit from a power wheelchair or scooter," Tunis said during an interview last year.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July.