President Bush nominates Mike Leavitt as Secretary of HHS
By HME News Staff
Updated Sun December 19, 2004
December 20, 2004
WASHINGTON - The White House last Monday nominated a former governor of Utah and the current administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael O. Leavitt, to replace Tommy Thompson as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
As governor of Utah, Leavitt led initiatives in welfare reform, resource management and environmental stewardship, according to the president.
“He improved child welfare services in the state, and made strides toward expanding access to health care for children,” Bush said in a Dec. 13 White House ceremony. “He made government services more accessible through the Internet, and he always insisted that the government remain accountable to the people it serves.”
The new administrator of DHHS will have to implement provisions of the first ever prescription drug benefit, including a number of provisions that promise enormous changes to the durable medical equipment industry.
“I look forward … to the implementation of the Medicare prescription drug program in 2006, medical liability reform and finding ways to reduce the cost of health care,” Leavitt said at the ceremony. “I'm persuaded that we can use technology and innovation to meet our most noble aspirations, and not compromise our other values that we hold so dear.”
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