President Obama's Executive Order Establishes White House Office of Health Reform
On April 8, 2009, President Obama signed an executive order establishing a White House Office of Health Reform (OHR) that will spearhead the Obama Administration's policy agenda for health care. The principal functions of the OHR include providing leadership for and coordinating the development of the Administration's agenda; working with Congress, various executive departments and agencies, and State, local and community policymakers and public officials; and monitoring the implementation of the agenda. If requested by the OHR Director, executive departments and agencies are required to designate a liaison to work with the OHR.
The executive order also requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish its own Office of Health Reform within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate closely with its White House counterpart.
President Obama has appointed Nancy Ann Min DeParle as the first Director of the OHR. During the Clinton Administration, DeParle served as the Associate Director for Health and Personnel at the White House Office of Management and Budget and as the Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, which is now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Before joining the Clinton Administration, she served as the Tennessee Commissioner of Human Services and worked as a lawyer for a law firm in Tennessee. Since leaving the Clinton Administration, DeParle is reported to have served on the board of directors of various medical device companies, such as Boston Scientific and MedCo.
