CMS Administrator Donald Berwick is resigning as CMS Administrator, effective December 2, 2011 (under his recess appointment, Dr. Berwick could only serve until December 31, 2011 without Senate confirmation, which Senate Republicans pledged to block). President Obama has announced his intention to nominate Marilyn B. Tavenner to fill the CMS Administrator’s position. Ms. Tavenner currently is Principal Deputy Administrator at CMS and she earlier served as Acting CMS Administrator. Ms. Tavenner previously served as the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources. She spent most of her career with the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), where she started as a staff nurse, worked her way to become the chief executive officer of two Richmond, Virginia-based HCA hospitals, and finished her service as group president of outpatient services.