WASHINGTON – President Obama is expected on Wednesday to put Donald Berwick, MD, at the helm of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services while Congress is in recess.

Dan Pfeiffer, White House Communications Director, wrote on the White House blog Tuesday night that "many Republicans in Congress have made it clear in recent weeks that they were going to stall the nomination as long as they could, solely to score political points."

But with CMS facing new responsibilities under the Affordable Care Act, "there's no time to waste with Washington game-playing," he wrote.

"That's why tomorrow the President will use a recess appointment to put Dr. Berwick at the agency's helm and provide strong leadership for the Medicare program without delay."

Obama nominated Berwick in April to serve as administrator of CMS, which has been without a permanent chief since the departure of Mark McClellan, MD, in 2006.

Under McClellan and during the tenure of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, who served in the Bush administration, CMS undertook several healthcare IT projects aimed at improving care and cutting costs.

The recess appointment means that Berwick will bypass anticipated Republican grilling because appointments made during congressional recesses do not require a vote. However, his appointment will expire at the end of the next session of Congress, in late 2011.

Berwick, a pediatrician and a professor at Harvard Medical School, is president of the Institute for Health Care Improvement. He is well known among policymakers, and industry insiders say he is widely respected. Berwick holds a master's degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where he graduated cum laude.

After his nomination in April, several professional organizations applauded the choice, among them the Medical Group Management Association, Premier Inc., the American Medical Association and the AARP.

"As healthcare organizations and professionals shape a reformed healthcare delivery system, his knowledge and proven leadership will be critical to success," the MGMA said in its statement. "His knowledge of quality improvement also offers great opportunities for improving the efficiency of CMS's internal operations – a critical factor in reducing administrative costs."

"The new tasks and deadlines put in place by the Affordable Care Act call for exactly the kind of vision that has earned Dr. Berwick this bipartisan praise," Pfeiffer wrote on the White House blog. "His experience challenging health care institutions to improve makes him the right Administrator to set up the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation – which will harness new ideas to strengthen seniors' care while reducing the deficit and slowing the growth in costs."