2010-04-05
President Barack Obama will
nominate Dr. Donald M. Berwick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS). CMS is the federal agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the
Children's Health Insurance Program. In addition, CMS, as part of health reform, is responsible
for implementing a series of pilot and demonstration programs geared toward
improving the coordination of patient care, disease prevention, and quality.
Dr. Berwick has devoted his career
to examining methods of delivering care more safely and efficiently to saves lives
and reduce wasteful spending. He
currently is the CEO of the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement,
and a Pediatrics and Health Policy professor at Harvard University. Best known for his "100,000 Lives" campaign,
built around the idea that certain specific practices can decrease preventable
hospital deaths, Dr. Berwick raised awareness about the number of deaths from medical
errors that occur in hospitals each year. In response, the medical
community devised multiple efforts to identify and standardize protocols to
deploy rapid-response teams, deliver evidence-based care for heart attacks;
prevent medication errors, minimize surgical site infections, prevent pneumonia
in patients on ventilators; and implement the "central line bundle," to prevent
infections associated with intravenous tubing. Dr. Berwick has also served as
Vice Chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, as a member of the Board of
Trustees of the American Hospital Association, and Chair of the National
Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Dr. Berwick could face tough confirmation hearings. Although he has extensive
leadership and health policy experience, he has no previous government
executive experience. In addition, Republican senators might seek a hold
on his nomination or use his confirmation hearings to show their lingering
displeasure with the health-care overhaul.
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