Last week I posted an article about how President Obama had nominated Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Berwick is a former Baldrige judge, a current Harvard professor, and the president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit that promotes innovative ways to improve patient care. He has been a forceful voice for systemic change to America’s healthcare system.

In the article, I warned about a likely Republican effort to block the nomination, which would have nothing to do with Berwick and everything to do with partisan politics. Well, no sooner had I posted the article than the Republican Policy Committee prepared a memo denigrating Berwick. You can read the memo and its refutation on Think Progress, but here is a key passage:

Donald Berwick…has a history of support for government rationing of health care resources on cost grounds. He has spoken favorably about Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which denies patients access to life-saving treatments the National Health Service (NHS) deems too expensive. The American people should have their eyes open to the ramifications of NICE-style rationing in the United States as part of Democrats’ brave new health care world.

In reality, Berwick supports less intensive, less invasive, and less expensive healthcare if it is more effective than the most aggressive care. In the Republican world, that equates to denying patients life-saving treatment.

In the face of such distortions, we need to show our support for Dr. Berwick. Please contact your Senators and Representative and tell them that Dr. Berwick is uniquely qualified to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. We need more Baldrige people leading government efforts to improve healthcare.

(6 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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