Sebelius and Former HCFA Head DeParle to Oversee Health Care Reform

WASHINGTON — President Obama nominated Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, D-Kan., as
Health and Human Services secretary March 2, and named Nancy-Ann
Min DeParle, former HCFA administrator, to lead the White Office of
Health Reform.

If confirmed by the Senate, Sebelius will head the massive HHS
department, which includes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the National
Institutes of Health. She will also work with DeParle on the
administration’s health care reform effort.

The announcement comes a month after former Sen. Tom Daschle,
D-S.D., withdrew his
nomination to head HHS following an admission he had failed to
pay $128,000 in back taxes. Daschle also stepped away from the
newly created White House office, which would have given him a dual
role in directing the push for reform.

In announcing his new choices, Obama said health reform will
require a commitment “that focuses not on Democratic ideas or
Republican ideas, but on ideas that work to rein in costs, expand
access and improve the quality of health care for the American
people.” As a Democratic governor in a Republican state, the
president said, Sebelius “has forged a reputation for bipartisan
problem-solving in her own right.”

Sebelius, who has served as Kansas governor since 2003, also
served as the state’s Insurance Commissioner from 1994 to 2002.

The announcement labeled DeParle “one of the nation’s leading
experts on health care and regulatory issues.” In her new role,
DeParle will act as a counselor to the president and is expected to
coordinate White House reform efforts with Congress.

DeParle was administrator of the Health Care Financing
Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
from 1997 to 2000. She had previously been associate director for
health and personnel in the White House Office of Management and
Budget and was commissioner of the Department of Human Services in
Tennessee. In addition, she has served on the Medicare Payment Advisory
Commission (MedPAC), which advises Congress on Medicare
reimbursement issues.

During DeParle’s term at CMS, the agency established new codes
for oxygen concentrators, added supplier standards and began an
effort to deal with Medicare fraud and abuse in proposals for a
provider surety bond and additional site visits.

DeParle also supported the DMEPOS competitive bidding
initiative, saying that the first demonstration in Polk County,
Fla., achieved Medicare savings without compromising patient access
to quality care. “Competition helps Medicare beneficiaries receive
quality medical supplies at fair market prices,” she said at the
time. “Old laws have forced Medicare to spend more for equipment
than market prices or common sense should allow.”

In announcing the winners of the Polk County project, which
resulted in reimbursement reductions of 13 to 31 percent in five
product categories, DeParle said the results “show that competition
can work for Medicare beneficiaries.”

While it didn’t drill down to HME issues, Obama’s 2010 budget
proposal set aside a $634 billion pool to help finance a health care
overhaul, funded in part from changes to Medicare and
Medicaid.

Obama has called the reform effort crucial to getting the
nation’s economy back on track. “We must realize that fixing what’s
wrong with our health care system is no longer just a moral
imperative, but a fiscal imperative,” the president said in
announcing yesterday’s appointments.

On Thursday, the White House will hold a health care summit
including members of Congress and stakeholders from the health care
and insurance industries to discuss the issue.

According to a report from CQ Today, Senate Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus said he hopes to have a reform bill
on the floor by June or July. Baucus also said the health care
legislation would be fully offset. “It will not add to the
deficit,” Baucus told reporters. “It will be paid for.”