President Barack Obama announced Monday he has tapped Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for Department of Health and Human Services secretary and Nancy Ann DeParle as Director of the White House Office for Health Reform.
If Sebelius is confirmed by the Senate, she would help interpret and implement healthcare IT provisions in the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. She would also face the daunting task of managing a huge influx of healthcare IT funding provided in the law, along with pressing healthcare reform plans underway by the White House and on Capitol Hill.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $2 billion in discretionary funding for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and $17.2 billion in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement incentives to help providers adopt electronic health records.
Under the stimulus package, Sebelius would oversee $4.7 billion in new funding for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program; $2.5 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program; $1.5 billion for construction, renovation, and equipment for health centers through the Health Resources and Services Administration; $1.1 billion for comparative effectiveness research within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Institutes of Health and HHS; $85 million for health IT, including telehealth services, within the Indian Health Service; and $50 million for information technology within the Veterans Benefits Administration.
Sebelius would be pivotal in determining the fate of healthcare IT initiatives begun under former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, and she would help ONC award competitive grants to states to help providers adopt healthcare IT.
The Obama administration has been under fire since the loss of Obama's first HHS secretary pick, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who stepped down over tax violations. Sebelius has no doubt been through a tougher vetting process than Daschle. The delay has been a disappointment to congressional healthcare proponents and the White House, all ready to move forward on overhauling America's healthcare system. Many saw the loss of Daschle as a missed opportunity for the HHS secretary to be part of the healthcare reform infrastructure laid out in the stimulus plan.
Like Daschle, Sebelius has potential as a bipartisan mediator. A Democrat governor in a very red state, she has proven she can work with Republicans. She is now in her second term as Kansas Governor, and was first elected in 2003. An early supporter of Obama, she served as the Kansas state insurance commissioner for eight years before she became governor. While working as insurance commissioner, she gained a reputation as being a patient advocate. In 2005, Time magazine named her one of the nation’s top five governors.
As part of Obama's cabinet, Sebelius would help push the president's healthcare reform plans, which include building on existing employer-based healthcare to create universal coverage. His plan also leans heavily on healthcare IT to save lives and reduce costs. Some lawmakers feel Obama has a chance to achieve healthcare reform and universal coverage, particularly if he acts within the first six months of his administration.
Some Kansas Republicans do not endorse Sebelius. "The governor has failed to provide any meaningful healthcare reform in Kansas, and instead increased the role of government in providing health insurance. It’s not reform, and is a frightening indication of what is to come,” said Executive Director Christian Morgan in the Kansas Trunkline, the official blog of the Kansas Republican party.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) favors Sebelius as a "strong partner" in revamping the healthcare system and that she "really gets what needs to be done." Republican Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Jon Huntsman of Utah also applauded her nomination, AP reported.
Photo by The Center for American Progress Action Fund and obtained under Creative Commons license.
