President Barack Obama will nominate Donald Berwick, M.D., president and CEO at Boston’s Institute for Healthcare Improvement, as his new CMS administrator. Charlene Frizzera, COO of CMS and acting administrator since January 2009, will remain COO once Berwick is approved.
According to a number of published reports over the weekend, President Barack Obama will nominate Donald Berwick, M.D., president and CEO at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, as his new CMS administrator. Charlene Frizzera, COO of CMS and acting administrator since January 2009, will remain COO once Berwick becomes administrator, according to a spokesperson.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement is an independent, not-for-profit organization that brings together stakeholders to share lessons and identify gaps in quality and best practices. Berwick also serves as a clinical professor of pediatrics and health care policy at Harvard Medical School and is a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard School of Public Health. He also is a member of the Institute of Medicine.
Englewood, Colorado-based Medical Group Management Association applauded the Berwick selection, stating that his knowledge of quality improvement “offers great opportunities for improving the efficiency of CMS’ internal operations–a critical factor in reducing administrative costs.”
