President-elect Barack Obama has nominated former Sen. Tom Daschle(D-S.D.) to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services,according to Capitol Hill sources.
The Obama transition team has not formally announced the Daschlenomination, nor have they confirmed the appointment is final, thoughsources are confirming Daschle has accepted the position.
Daschle was a close adviser to Obama throughout the IllinoisDemocrat's presidential campaign. It is reported that the Obamatransition team has also designated Daschle to serve as the leadhealthcare advisor, or healthcare "czar," for the Obama White House.
A number of key healthcare leaders agree with Obama's choice.
"Senator Daschle combines substantive knowledge of the issues withthe political acumen necessary to confront the challenges of healthcarereform," said William F. Jessee, MD, president and CEO of the MedicalGroup Management Association. "He is clearly the right person at theright time to lead the president's team."
Deborah Peel, MD, founder of the PatientPrivacyRights Foundation,said she's hopeful her cause of patient privacy will find a listeningear in Daschle.
"Former Democratic Senator Tom Daschle has a long reputation forlistening to all sides and building coalitions to find solutions todifficult problems," she said. "Healthcare reform and healthcare IT areextremely difficult problems, so his approach will be a welcome andmuch needed change."
"He has both style and real substance," Peel said.
John Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston,said Daschle has "a deep understanding of the need to increase thevalue of healthcare in this country by reducing costs and enhancingquality."
Halamka said the increased use of interoperable healthcareinformation technologies will help the new administration achieve thesegoals.
Karen Sealander, a Washington, D.C.-based counsel for IntermountainHealthcare (with McDermott Will & Emery LLP), said the Daschleappointment "bodes well for systemic health reform efforts in 2009."
"Senator Daschle was involved in – and learned the lessons of – thelast major efforts at health reform in the early 1990s," Sealandersaid. "He has already made clear that he wants to be President Obama'spoint person on health reform. This will facilitate coordination andcommunication between Capitol Hill and the administration and willeffectively streamline the negotiation process."
"Further, Senator Daschle will be highly effective in working withhis former colleagues on Capitol Hill," Sealander added. "All in all,Senator Daschle's selection as HHS secretary is a very positive earlyindicator that enhances the prospect of systemic health reform in theObama administration."
Daschle was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978 andserved eight years. In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Heserved as both majority and minority leader before being defeated in2004.
According to his biography on the Center for American Progress Website (where he serves as a distinguished senior fellow), Daschle is anadvisor to the law firm of Alston and Bird, where he provides strategicadvice on public policy issues. He is also a visiting professor atGeorgetown University and a public speaker.
Last fall, Daschle published two articles on healthcare, "New Factson U.S. Health Care: U.S. Ranks Poorly with Other Wealthy Nations" and"Politics and a Pragmatic Paradigm for Health Reform."
In a 2005 paper titled "Paying more but getting less, myths and theglobal case for U.S. health reform," Daschle said despite the clearneed to improve the health system, policymakers and the publicsometimes underestimate its problems and overstate concerns aboutsolutions.
"Many believe wrongly that we have the best health system in theworld, and changing it will lower quality, reduce access and imposeadded costs on our businesses," Daschle said. "I aim to dispel thesemyths through global comparisons. Honest debate will help createclimate for reform which is essential to our nation's health as well asits economic vitality and global leadership."
In 2007, Daschle joined with former Majority Leaders GeorgeMitchell, Bob Dole and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan PolicyCenter, an organization dedicated to finding common ground on some ofthe pressing public policy challenges of our time.
In a statement published on the Bipartisan Policy Center Web site,Daschle said, "National governance in America is inherently a partisanprocess, dominated by two political parties that often havefundamentally conflicting approaches and ambitions."
"It is the rare politician who can regularly transcend institutionalpressures and work effectively with his counterparts across the aisle,"he said. "But, like so many things in life, finding the courage andwill to work in a bipartisan manner often produces the enduringpolicies that history will judge most favorably and of which theauthors will be most proud."
What do you think of Daschle for HHS Secretary? Send comments to Senior Editor Diana Manos at diana.manos@medtechpublishing.com.