HELP Committee Gets Request for White House Office of Health and Wellness

WASHINGTON — The White House Office of Health Reform sits
vacant as the Obama administration regroups from former Sen. Tom
Daschle’s withdrawal as the person to run it, and to head the
Department of Health and Human Services. But last week, the Senate
HELP committee heard a request to create another White House office
focused specifically on health and wellness.

At a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee hearing Feb. 23, witnesses called for such an office.
Under their terms, the central office would coordinate work across
government departments and agencies to refocus the health care
system on prevention and wellness.

“There may come a time when we won’t need one, but right now
there needs to be a spotlight on this issue,” said Dr. James
Gordon, director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. “We need somebody, some
office that’s going to really keep an eye and make sure that what’s
put forward here in Congress, what’s put forward by the
administration, actually is enacted.”

Gordon described the current system as one in which “silos”
prevent policy from being implemented successfully across a range
of agencies that play a critical role in the health of Americans.
According to Gordon and other witnesses, a White House Health and
Wellness Office could ensure implementation of health care reform
across agencies including HHS, the Department of Agriculture, the
Environmental Protection Agency and others.

Other witnesses at the hearing outlined the benefits of
integrated health care and said the system needs to shift not only
focus, but money as well, from acute care and treatment of diseases
toward prevention and wellness.

Wayne B. Jonas, president and CEO of the Samueli Institute, told
the committee that if the witnesses’ recommendations were applied
in a coordinated fashion, “a ‘triple multiplier’ of health,
productivity and economic stimulus would result for the
nation.”

As Congress mulls health care reform, Sen. Barbara
Mikulski, D-Md., who presided over the hearing, said, “Talking
about health care and the changes in it is not simply about
expanding access to acute care or even expanding access to
physicians’ care, though they will be a pillar to whatever
ultimately Congress does … Our goal in health care reform is
to focus on improving quality of care.” Simply having access to
more doctors will not help without policy changes in areas like
agriculture, community planning and environmental protection, she
said.

At a second hearing on the subject of integrative health care
Feb. 26, witnesses told the committee that incorporating prevention
and alternative medical approaches into health care reform could
both cut costs and improve patient health.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, director of the Arizona
Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona,
“there’s nothing finer in the world than American medical
technology, but we’re trying to use this for everything that comes
in the door.”

Healthy choices about diet, stress, exercise and other lifestyle
factors can prevent disease and reduce chronic conditions, he and
other witnesses said.

Read and watch last week’s testimony at the “Principles of Integrative Health: A Path to Health
Care Reform” and the “Integrative Care: A Pathway to a Healthier
Nation” hearings.