Berwick to Head CMS ... Not Necessarily

Just a quick follow-up post on the question of who will lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). A previous post outlined some of the controversy that nominee Donald Berwick from Institute for Healthcare Improvement has sparked. Apparently, his provocative statements have denied him membership in the "unanimous consent" category...

Berwick not on list of soon-to-be approved nominees

By Mike Lillis - 06/21/10 07:26 PM ET

Senate leaders are nearing an agreement to approve more than 60 Obama administration nominees who have been pending before the upper chamber for months. But Donald Berwick, the White House choice to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, didn't make the cut. 

"He will not get unanimous consent," a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told The Hill Monday evening. McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are all but agreed on allowing 67 nominees to proceed by unanimous consent Monday night or Tuesday morning, the spokesman said.  

Berwick, a Harvard-based pediatrician who founded the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, has riled many Republicans for comments he made two years ago in praise of Britain's government-run National Health Service. His critics say those comments are indication that Berwick supports rationing of healthcare. 

Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/104609-berwick-not-on-list-of-soon-to-be-approved-nominees