Former acting Medicare chief Donald Berwick, MD, has announced that he is running for governor of Massachusetts.
"I feel proud of and grateful to this state, and I want to find the best way to give back," Berwick said in an announcement posted Monday on his campaign website.
"As a doctor, an educator, an innovator and someone who has dedicated his professional career to making things work better and to helping people -- I am ready to lead. That is why I am announcing today that I am a candidate for Governor of Massachusetts."
Berwick, 66, served as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from July 2010 to December 2011. He left after it became clear that President Obama, who had named Berwick to the position in a recess appointment, would be unable to have his nomination as permanent administrator approved by the Senate.
During his tenure, Berwick was lauded for his commitment to patient safety. He also urged health insurers to work more closely with CMS to implement health reform.
Berwick was criticized by Senate Republicans for making statements praising aspects of the British healthcare system, which is government-run -- statements Republicans cited as proof that he favored rationing healthcare. Berwick denied wanting to ration care and said he thinks the solution to America's healthcare woes should be uniquely American and not modeled on any other country.
Berwick was succeeded as acting administrator by Marilyn Tavenner, who was recently confirmed by the Senate.
On his campaign website, Berwick, who is running as a Democrat, praises Massachusetts' system of universal health coverage. "Massachusetts should be proud that ours was the first state in the nation to make healthcare a human right," the site says.
"But that is not going to be sustainable without major changes and improvements in healthcare delivery -- improvements that Don has been working on worldwide for the last 3 decades. The best route to sustainable care is to improve care, and that is a cornerstone of Don's agenda. But that means helping our amazing healthcare organizations navigate through a difficult change to team-based, integrated, truly patient-centered care, with an emphasis on prevention and healing."
Prior to his stint at CMS, Berwick founded and led the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, which focuses on sharing "best practices" among physicians to improve healthcare delivery. Berwick is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and also worked at the Harvard Community Health Plan.
Joyce Frieden
News Editor
Joyce Frieden began her career in medical journalism 26 years ago at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, working as a news editor for Physician̢۪s Management, Modern Medicine, Hospital Formulary, and several other medical magazines. Since then, her byline has appeared in Business & Health magazine, Internal Medicine News, Family Practice News, Pediatric News, Clinical Psychiatry News, Skin and Allergy News and ObGyn News. Her freelance clients have included Physician̢۪s Weekly, UPI, WebMD, Reuters Health, Drug Topics, the Washington Post, and Washingtonian magazine. She is the recipient of a Jesse H. Neal award presented for editorial excellence by American Business Media, and is co-coordinator of the Washington chapter of the Association of Health Care Journalists.
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