Berwick decries Medicare and Medicaid fraud and waste in parting interview

On the heels of his departure from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Donald Berwick, M.D., said he came to Washington with an agenda to eliminate waste from the system.

In an interview with The New York Times, Berwick cited five factors that contribute to healthcare waste: the “overtreatment of patients, the failure to coordinate care, the administrative complexity of the health care system, burdensome rules and fraud.”

Faced with the unlikelihood of being confirmed, Berwick stepped down from his post as CMS administrator on Friday. In his tenure at CMS, the department has stepped up its efforts and preventing Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

Berwick told the Times that he estimates that Medicare and Medicaid could save between $150 billion to $250 billion a year by eliminating waste. He defined waste as “activities that don’t have any value,” according to the interview.