President Obama intends to nominate Donald M. Berwick, M.D. to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a White House official told DOTmed News.

Dr. Berwick, co-founder and president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, would fill the position that has not been permanently filled since October 2006, when Mark McClellan stepped down.

In addition to serving the IHI, Dr. Berwick is a pediatrician and professor of pediatrics and health care policy at Harvard Medical School and a professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Berwick also holds positions at Boston's Children's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

If the Senate confirms Berwick as the programs' administrator, he will oversee new policies and changes in the Medicare and Medicaid systems, which serves about 100 million people.