Berwick to Head CMS

It looks like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is going to get its first permanent chief since Mark McClellan left the position in 2006.

An administration official reportedly confirmed that President Obama intends to name Massachusetts pediatrician Donald Berwick, M.D., MPP, FRCP, to the position in the near future.

CMS runs government health care programs for seniors, the poor and disabled. Benefits are provided to an estimated 100 million people.

Comparative Effectiveness Advocate

Berwick is the president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts that works to eliminate “needless” problems within health care systems across the globe, such as needless deaths, suffering, waiting for help, or waste. Berwick is also a professor of pediatrics and health care policy at the Harvard Medical School and a professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health.

A new chief of CMS will have his hands full implementing components of the health insurance reform legislation recently signed into law. Having served as the chair of the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality from 1999 through 2001, it will particularly interesting to see how the agency makes use of comparative effectiveness data to make, or not make coverage and payment decisions.

“Sir” Berwick

Dr. Berwick was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London in 2004. In 2005, in recognition of his work for the National Health Service in the UK, he was appointed honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire—the highest award given to non-British citizens

Congressional Approval

Congressional approval from a Congress ripped apart by the health care debate won’t be automatic.

The Tribune Newspapers reported a signal of concern, if not outright opposition from Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a practicing obstetrician.

“One concern I have is that he’s an advocate of cost comparative effectiveness, ” said Coburn. “There may be one or two or three ways of doing something. I want to do what’s best for the patient, not necessarily what’s cheapest.”

Focus too much on cost effectiveness, and “all of a sudden you’re rationing care, ” Coburn said.

“It’s way too early to tell” if Republicans will try to derail Berwick’s nomination, Coburn said.  “I think he’s more than qualified…I want to sit down and talk with him.”