Who is Don Berwick?

The Don! 

Most people don’t know the name.  Even people who work in healthcare don’t know who Don Berwick is.  But if you mention the 100K Lives Campaignand now the 5 Million Lives Campaign,  their ears will perk up. Dr. Don Berwick was the brainchild behind the 100K Campaign and the President of the organization that ran it.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement   has brought patient safety and quality care to the fingertips of the medical professionals. Dr. Don Berwick knows about patient’s safety. Dr. Berwick shares his personal stories about unreliability and “terrifying” healthcare at conferences.  You can watch him share his story here.  Don Berwick - What Patient Centred Care Really Means.  

How do patient “activists” learn about patient safety? It’s the people like Dr. Berwick, who set the bar high, that help people like myself understand the complexity of medical care. Dr. Berwick is a well -respected leader in the patient safety community whether it’s the patient’s turned patient safety experts or the hospital administration, Dr. Berwick is the national champion.

So, you can only imagine the groundswell of excitement when Don Berwick was chosen to lead our country Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Someone who is a brilliant leader in healthcare and a supporter of patient safety was going to help run the country.

But now, there is a strong Washington force out Dr. Berwick.  Patient safety advocates are gathering their momentum and starting letter writing campaigns to help keep Dr. Berwick in his post. Imagine, losing something that was so good, so fast?

Dr. Don Berwick

I wonder if this doesn’t work, and Dr. Berwick, just as qualified as the next person to fill this position doesn’t make it, will we have the real proof in hand that our government is corrupt? How could they possibly justify putting someone else in?