President Barack Obama nominated Donald Berwick, MD, of Massachusetts to be the next CMS administrator on April 19.
"Dr. Berwick has dedicated his career to improving outcomes for patients and providing better care at lower cost," Obama said in a statement from the White House. "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."
Dr. Berwick is president of the think tank the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and he is a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health.
His nomination will need to be confirmed by the Senate before he can begin running the agency. The last administrator was Mark McClellan, MD, who was appointed by the Bush administration in 2004. He resigned in 2006 and an acting administrator has been overseeing the agency ever since. The current acting administrator is Charlene Frizzera.
Update: Below is a statement from the AMA, American College of Cardiology (ACC), Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and others on the nomination. We'll roll these out as they come in. We also welcome your comments on the Berwick nomination below! Is there anything you'd like to see him change at CMS?
AMA
"He is widely known and well-respected for his visionary leadership efforts that focus on optimizing the quality and safety of patient care in hospitals and across health-care settings," said Nancy Nielsen, MD, AMA immediate-past president. "The AMA has partnered with Dr. Berwick's Institute for Healthcare Improvement in many of those efforts. Upon confirmation, we look forward to working with Dr. Berwick at CMS on implementation of the new health reform law and on ensuring that physicians can continue to care for seniors who rely on Medicare."
ACC
"President Obama has made an excellent choice in naming Don Berwick CMS administrator," ACC CEO Jack Lewin MD said. "Both Medicare and Medicaid will be undergoing significant changes as part of the health reform law signed by President Obama last week, and Don Berwick is more than capable of leading this important agency forward and spearheading quality initiatives that increase efficiency and improve patient care.
"I'm confident that Don's knowledge and experience in quality improvement and medical efficiency will be assets to him at CMS as he seeks to implement the President's health care reform and more specifically, the President's incentives to increase quality health care measures," Dr. Lewin said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus
"Dr. Berwick is an experienced health policy expert and researcher whose career has focused on innovative and effective ways to improve health care quality," Baucus said. "Implementing innovative ideas that work and boosting health care quality will be critical goals for the next Administrator of CMS, particularly in our fight to deliver better health care outcomes and lower costs for patients across the country. Improving health care quality was a major part of the landmark health reform bill passed this year and the CMS Administrator will play a crucial role implementing that law. I look forward to an expeditious review of Dr. Berwick's nomination in the Finance Committee."
Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.)
"I welcome Dr. Don Berwick's nomination as CMS Administrator," Stark said. "Dr. Berwick has worked at the national level for years to strengthen the quality of health care in America. As head of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, he has brought together providers and policymakers to advance ideas that improve the delivery of health care.
"I look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Berwick in his new role, and I urge the Senate to act quickly to confirm him. His leadership and expertise are needed now as the agency implements critical Medicare reforms and other health reform initiatives at CMS."
Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.)
"Dr. Berwick has been a visionary leader in the field of health care delivery improvement, working to make our health system more efficient and patient-centered," said Levin. "I appreciated his insight in developing legislation to accelerate the translation of cutting-edge medical research and health care delivery best practices into bedside care, a form of which was included in the new health care reform law. The Committee looks forward to working with him in a new role as head of CMS."