AP: Berwick To Be Named Medicare Chief

The Associated Press is reporting that pediatrician and health care quality guru Donald Berwick will be nominated by President Obama to oversee Medicare and Medicaid.

Berwick, CEO of the Cambridge-based Institute For Health Care Improvment is a leading authority on how to deliver quality, affordable health care both in the U.S. and around the world.

The AP says the timing of the nomination is important:

Berwick, if confirmed by the Senate, would take over an agency that has not had a permanent chief executive since Mark McClellan stepped down in the fall of 2006.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services runs the government health care programs for seniors and the poor, providing benefits to an estimated 100 million people — about 1 in 3 Americans.

Both programs will be undergoing significant changes as part of the health care overhaul Obama signed into law last week.

An administration official confirmed Obama's intentions on condition of anonymity because the president has not made his decision public. That announcement is expected soon.