Surer footing for Medicare

Former health and human services secretary Michael Leavitt was incorrect in calling the Affordable Care Act’s Medicare reforms an “illusion” ["The wrong prescription for Medicare," Washington Forum, Aug. 27].
It’s no illusion to the seniors and people with disabilities who will pay less for prescription drugs, to the [...]

New Health Official Faces Hostility in Senate

WASHINGTON — Unlike many other health policy experts, Dr. Donald M. Berwick, the new chief of Medicare and Medicaid, has extensive real world experience.
As co-founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass., he worked with doctors and nurses to upgrade care at hundreds of hospitals [...]

Editorial: The public deserves a hearing for a Medicare appointee

“I CAN’T PLAY political games on these issues. I’ve got a government to run,” President Obama said in explaining his move to sidestep the Senate and use a recess appointment to install Donald Berwick to run Medicare and Medicaid. Mr. Obama’s hurry would have been more understandable had he not waited for more than a [...]

GOP spoiling for fight over Berwick appointment

On July 19, the White House sent to the Senate the nomination of Donald Berwick to be the top administrator of Medicare and Medicaid. The move seemed odd, given that President Obama had already nominated Berwick once, and then on July 7 used executive authority to bypass lawmakers and unilaterally appoint Berwick to the post [...]

Berwick’s Renomination Termed A ‘Technicality,’ Questions Remain

The White House hit the reset button Monday on Donald Berwick, renominating him for the post of CMS administrator after President Obama used a recess appointment to install the pediatrician as Medicare chief, with some observers speculating the move will help the controversial new CMS chief try to build a rapport with moderate Republicans as [...]

CMS Chief Berwick’s Appointment May Not Close Door To Near-Term Senate Hearings

Senate and House Republicans are pushing committees with oversight of Medicare and Medicaid to hold hearings with Don Berwick, who recently took over the helm of CMS without being fully vetted by the Senate Finance Committee or approved by the Senate.
Berwick was made CMS administrator through a recess appointment by President Obama (‘The Pink Sheet,’ [...]

Senate GOP wants Berwick hearing

Senate Republicans are demanding to hear from Don Berwick, the physician President Barack Obama recess-appointed last week to run the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Republicans on the Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the post, say that not holding a hearing with Berwick would “result in circumventing the [...]

GOP retaliates for Berwick recess appointment to Medicare leadership post

Senate Republicans are still fuming over the recess appointment of Donald Berwick to head the federal agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid.
In retaliation, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) blocked a Democratic request Wednesday evening to advance two of President Obama’s nominees to the U.S. Court [...]

Daniel Henninger: “Berwick: Bigger Than Kagan”

Barack Obama’s incredible “recess appointment” of Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is probably the most significant domestic-policy personnel decision in a generation. It is more important to the direction of the country than Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
The court’s decisions are subject to the tempering [...]

Standards Issued for Electronic Health Records

WASHINGTON — The federal government issued new rules Tuesday that will reward doctors and hospitals for the “meaningful use” of electronic health records, a top goal of President Obama.
The rules significantly scale back proposed requirements that the health care industry had denounced as unrealistic.
The Department of Health and Human Services said doctors and hospitals could [...]

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