Medicare Rationer Won’t Disclose Who Paid the Bills

Jim McElhatton, Washington Times

Before he took over the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid agency this summer, Dr. Donald Berwick retired from the nonprofit health care think tank he co-founded with a nearly $900,000 compensation package and a seven-figure executive retirement plan.

But Dr. Berwick is declining to say exactly who provided funding to the Massachusetts-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement in response to Republicans who question whether the new Medicare chief could have a conflict of interest if medical-device companies or health plans helped make his generous compensation package possible in the first place.

Last week, Dr. Berwick, who is administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), declined to release information about donors to the nonprofit group where he served as chief executive, saying he no longer worked there and had no authority to release information that was not public.

In a letter to Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Dr. Berwick said he has complied fully with the ethics rules.

“You can be assured that I will comply with all of the recusal and other obligations contained in my ethics agreement,” Dr. Berwick wrote.

The Washington Times reported earlier this month that a review of some of the funding sources of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement show health care entities that don’t appear on Dr. Berwick‘s financial disclosure or on the standard ethics agreement that officials use to root out potential conflicts of interest.

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