‘I came with an agenda. I wanted to try to change the agency to be a force for improvement.’
Exiting Medicare chief cites needless spending
‘I came with an agenda. I wanted to try to change the agency to be a force for improvement.’
The official in charge of Medicare and Medicaid for the last 17 months says that 20 percent to 30 percent of health spending is “waste’’ that yields no benefit to patients, and that some of the needless spending is a result of onerous, archaic regulations enforced by his agency. The official, Dr. Donald M. Berwick, listed five reasons for what he described as the “extremely high level of waste.’’ They are overtreatment of patients, the failure to coordinate care, the administrative complexity of the health care system, burdensome rules, and fraud.
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