Congress is away this week. That hasn’t stopped President Obama, who appears to be getting a PR boost from within his own party (Tea Baggers excepted, of course); during this Easter recess, Obama is expected to push through a torrent of human capital to fill gaps in his cabinet. Among them, Dr. Donald Berwick (an academic pediatrician and founder/president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement) will be tapped to head CMS — a position with a vacancy of almost 4 years. From all of the media hype surrounding this appointment, Berwick seems to be an ideal candidate — someone who falls right in line with institutional process thinking in improving all there is to the ivory tower approach of refining the efficiency and delivery of healthcare.

This is actually pretty exciting news. If the candidate’s cred as president of IHI can attest, any wonk with an interest in the intersection of public and healthcare policy will watch the role CMS will take in representing the federal government’s handling healthcare costs rather closely — a major issue in this new age of reform. This will prove to be critical, as Republicans are just lying in wait for the first major fiscal challenges inevitably inherent in the type of leadership and research Obama’s pick for this position will herald and foster.

Related Posts Within Doctor Pundit:

1. Obama’s Pick to Head CMS Goes Back to Senate President Obama’s recess appointment for CMS chief, Donald Berwick, made...
2. CMS Chief Gets Hands Dirty, Rolls Out Obama Admin’s Quality Reform Plans Ten years. Ten billion dollars. That is the level of...
3. CMS Chief Answers to Congress, Provides Few Details on Reform’s Early Progress The first opportunity for the House to fire questions at...
4. CMS Chief’s Remarks at Recent Media Confab Via National Journal, the current CMS chief Don Berwick, MD,...
5. CMS Chief to Announce ACO Regs and Guidelines Soon What exactly is an accountable care organization? Interestingly, the term...