The Obama administration has been in place for more than a year now, but President Barack Obama still hasn't named an administrator to run CMS. After signing health care reform into law, it seems reasonable to assume that having a political appointee run the agency must now be a priority at the White House. This week, we outlined several changes in the health care reform bill to the Medicare that need to be implemented.
The Wall Street Journal mentioned rumors that Donald Berwick, a professor at Harvard and president and CEO of the Institute for HealthCare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass., is "most likely" going to be the nominee. The trade publication Inside Health Policy says it's going to be Berwick. However, the White House has yet to make an announcement and Berwick told WSJ "it's rumors" when asked about the position.
Obama's two predecessors had CMS administrators in place during the first year of the first term of their presidencies.