John August, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents 90,000 health care workers, describes why Dr. Donald Berwick is a good choice to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
President Obama appointed Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) this week.
The decision was lauded by the New York Times. “Dr. Berwick’s major credential for the job is that he leads the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a consulting group that promotes measures to improve the quality and safety of health care while reducing its costs. He has been enormously successful at getting health care professionals and institutions to work together to reform their practices—exactly what the agency needs.” (New York Times editorial, July 8, 2010.)
