government
CMS nomination of Dr. Berwick official
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted April 26, 2010
President Obama on April 19 officially nominated Donald M. Berwick, MD, to be the next administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Dr. Berwick, a pediatrician, is president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit organization that promotes concepts to improve the quality of patient care. He is also a clinical professor of pediatrics and health care policy at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
CMS has been without a permanent administrator since Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD, stepped down in October 2006. A White House official on March 29 had confirmed that Dr. Berwick would be tapped for the nomination, which requires Senate approval.
Physician organizations, including the American Medical Association, applauded the nomination, citing Dr. Berwick's widely respected leadership on quality and patient safety issues.
In a statement, Obama said Dr. Berwick "has dedicated his career to improving outcomes for patients and providing better care at lower cost. That's one of the core missions facing our next CMS administrator, and I'm confident that Don will be an outstanding leader for the agency and the millions of Americans it serves."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/04/26/gvbf0426.htm.
