The Trump administration plans to proceed with negotiating Medicare prices for the next 15 drugs selected under the Inflation Reduction Act, but will seek input to “improve” the program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Wednesday.

The announcement comes amid some uncertainty about the new administration’s drug pricing priorities. On Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump issued an executive order rescinding a Biden administration initiative that had directed the health secretary to explore ways of lowering pharmaceutical costs within Medicare. While specific elements of that initiative appear to be continuing, the order created confusion about the White House’s broader plans.

“Lowering the cost of prescription drugs for Americans is a top priority of President Trump and his Administration,” CMS said Wednesday. “CMS is committed to incorporating lessons learned to date from the program and to considering opportunities to bring greater transparency in the negotiation program.”

“CMS intends to provide opportunities for stakeholders to provide specific ideas to improve the negotiation program,” the short statement added, without elaborating on how that might occur.

Under the process already established by CMS, Medicare will hold several negotiation meetings with affected drugmakers, and host 15 “patient-focused roundtable events.” The Biden administration had also set plans to have a “clinically oriented” town hall meeting.

The selection of the 15 drugs for negotiation was one of the Biden administration’s final health policy acts. They include semaglutide, sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus by Novo Nordisk, Pfizer cancer drugs Ibrance and Xtandi and asthma drug Trelegy Ellipta from GSK. The list of 15 adds to an initial round of negotiations on 10 medicines, results for which were revealed in August.

CMS’ announcement came the same day as Trump’s nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., fielded questions in his first Senate confirmation hearing. Asked by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., about Medicare price negotiations, Kennedy replied, “We need lower prices [for] the seniors in this country.”

Kennedy also mentioned a Trump executive order meant to support drug price negotiations, but it was unclear exactly whether he was referring to CMS’ statement. 

Trump and congressional Republicans have said they plan to roll back the Inflation Reduction Act that established Medicare’s authority to negotiate prices on certain brand name drugs. But they haven’t indicated how they’d treat the 2022 law’s drug pricing provisions. Pharma companies are reportedly seeking to pause the program.

In a letter sent after Wednesday’s hearing, all 13 Democrats on the Senate Finance committee asked Kennedy whether he’d follow the law in implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug pricing provisions. 

“Contrary to what you suggested in today’s hearing, the Trump administration’s statement is far from an embrace of drug price negotiation and appears to be opening the door to changes that could undermine Medicare’s ability to get the best price possible on drugs,” the senators wrote. 

During his first term, Trump pursued several initiatives to lower drug prices, but they were either not fully carried out or were unsuccessful.

Medicare covers 68 million people age 65 and older and some younger people with certain disabilities.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with details of the Senate Democrats’ letter to Kennedy.