U.S. President Barack Obama has picked a top health policy expert to run Medicare and Medicaid, an administration official said on Saturday, filling a role at the heart of his historic healthcare reform.

Obama plans to nominate Dr. Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services, the official said.

Medicare and Medicaid are federal medical programs for elderly and poor Americans. Under landmark healthcare reform signed by Obama last week, Medicaid's coverage will be extended to millions more needy Americans.

Berwick is president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an independent organization aimed at improving healthcare. He is also a professor of pediatrics and healthcare policy at the Harvard Medical School.

Reuters