On March 27, the Associated Press reported that President Barack Obama is set to nominate Donald M. Berwick, M.D., president and CEO of the Cambridge, Mass.-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, Baltimore).
According to the AP report, an Obama administration official has confirmed the President’s intentions, on condition of anonymity, because the nomination has not yet formally been announced.
Berwick is well-known in the healthcare industry as the head of IHI, which, since its founding in 1991, has worked to improve patient safety and care quality within the U.S. healthcare system. In addition to the position he holds at IHI, Berwick is also a clinical professor of pediatrics and health care policy at the Harvard Medical School, and a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has served as an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, and as a member of the board of trustees of the American Hospital Association. He is also the author of several books and articles, including Curing Health Care and Escape Fire.
The official announcement is expected soon, the AP reports. Turn to Healthcare Informatics for updates on new developments in this situation.
