Executive Spotlight—Don Berwick on how federal health policy is 'backpedaling'

Don Berwick, M.D., is concerned that federal health policy is "backpedaling." Berwick, former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator and co-founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, sat down with FierceHealthcare at IHI's National Forum on Quality Improvement in Healthcare to discuss the current state of the health policy landscape, and he said federal-level actions, like steps to promote short-term and association health plans, are worrisome. "I think at the federal level, unfortunately, the policy landscape is moving too much into what I call 'regressive policies,' instead of offering further guarantees in the safety net," Berwick said.