News Briefs: Government Updates

This roundup includes the following brief government updates:

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced the creation of an HHS Office of Health Reform. According to the secretary, "The HHS Office of Health Reform and the White House Office of Health Reform will work in tandem to advance legislation and take immediate actions to cut costs, assure quality and affordable health care for all Americans, and guarantee Americans can choose their doctor and their health plan."

To that end, former Clinton administration official Jeanne Lambrew, Ph.D., has been tapped to head the HHS health reform office. A former associate professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, Lambrew was a health policy associate director in the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration. She also has served as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a senior health analyst with the National Economic Council.

Michael Hash, former deputy administrator of the agency now known as CMS, and Neera Tanden, J.D., former senior VP with the Center for American Progress, will serve as senior advisers in the new HHS office.

Hash, a former senior staff aide to the health and environment subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, served as deputy under Nancy-Ann DeParle, now director of the White House Office of Health Reform, when DeParle was the administrator for the Health Care Financing Administration, the precursor to CMS. In his new position, Hash will act as liaison between the HHS and White House health reform offices as the two offices shape legislation consistent with the president's health care priorities.

Tanden, a domestic policy adviser for the Obama-Biden campaign and a former director of the Domestic Policy Council, will serve as a senior adviser on health care issues for the HHS office.

Margaret Hamburg, M.D., a bioterrorism expert and a former head of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has been sworn in as the new commissioner of the FDA.

Hamburg said during a Senate confirmation hearing that her first priority as FDA commissioner would be to help direct the development of a vaccine for the novel H1N1 influenza virus. Hamburg also said the FDA is capable of regulating tobacco products. In the meantime, she vowed to revamp and improve the nation's food safety system, saying she wants to prevent food poisoning outbreaks rather than trying to stop them after they have occurred.

Hamburg is only the second women to head the FDA during the agency's 100-year history. She served as an assistant health secretary in the Clinton administration, working on bioterrorism and influenza pandemic preparations. As New York City's health commissioner from 1991-97, Hamburg is credited with leading improvements in childhood vaccination rates, reducing the incidence of new HIV infections and containing cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

When first announcing her nomination, President Obama characterized Hamburg's varied background as well-suited to the tasks she would take up at the FDA. "From her research on infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health to her work on public health at the Department of Health and Human Services to her leadership on biodefense at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Dr. Hamburg brings to this vital position not only a reputation of integrity but a record of achievement in making Americans safer and more secure," he noted.

President Obama has tapped another former New York City health commissioner, Thomas Frieden, M.D., as the new director of the CDC.

Frieden, who has served as New York City's health commissioner for the past seven years, played a major role in implementing the nation's largest community-based electronic health records project. He also led efforts to prohibit smoking in the city's bars and restaurants and was instrumental in increasing rates of cancer screening and HIV testing.

As CDC director, Frieden will formulate the CDC's response to major health issues, including the recent outbreak of novel H1N1 influenza.

In a prepared statement, Obama said, "America relies on a strong public health system, and the work at the CDC is critical to our mission to preserve and protect the health and safety of our citizens. Dr. Frieden is an expert in preparedness and response to health emergencies, and has been at the forefront of the fight against heart disease, cancer and obesity, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS, and in the establishment of electronic health records."

Frieden succeeds Julie Gerberding, M.D., who resigned her post as CDC director in January. Richard Besser, M.D., who had served as acting director for the agency since that time, will return to his previous position as head of the CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response.

Sen. John Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., has introduced a bill, S. 1110, that would transform the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, into an executive agency capable of making changes in the Medicare program.

MedPAC, which was established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, advises Congress on Medicare payment and related issues, but the commission currently does not have the authority to implement changes to the Medicare program.

Under the bill, MedPAC would operate as an independent agency similar to the Federal Reserve Board and would have the power to test new physician payment models under Medicare. "If we want serious improvements in our health care delivery system, then we need to reform MedPAC’s current authority to include fully establishing and implementing Medicare reimbursement rules," said Rockefeller in a May 20 press release. "Congress should leave the reimbursement rules to the independent health care experts."

The legislation would establish three new advisory councils under MedPAC to help with decision making, including a council of health and economic advisers, a consumer advisory council, and a federal health advisory council composed of representatives from the health care industry. The bill also proposes that MedPAC receive additional funding and an expanded staff.

Rockefeller's proposal has little chance of passing Congress as a stand-alone bill, according to analysts, but it could be enacted as part of a larger health care reform measure.