Robert Berenson, M.D., an Urban Institute senior fellow, has published widely on a range of topics, including physician payment, private plan contracting in Medicare, health care cost containment and malpractice reform. From 1998–2000, he was in charge of Medicare payment policy and managed care contracting in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In the Carter Administration, he served on the White House Domestic Policy Staff.

Dr. Berenson is a board-certified internist who practiced for twelve years in a Washington, D.C. group practice and is Fellow of the American College of Physicians. For ten years he was medical director of the National Capital PPO. He has co-authored two books—The Managed Care Blues & How to Cure Them and Medicare Payment Policy and the Shaping of U.S. Health Care.