Obama opens the door for drastic new Medicare, Medicaid cuts for nursing homes

President Obama Wednesday officially created the White House Office of Health Reform, establishing healthcare reform as a top priority for his administration.

Nancy-Ann DeParle, who formerly served as director of the Healthcare Financing Administration under president Bill Clinton, will direct the office. The executive order creating the new department also contained language directing the Department of Health and Human Services to create its own Office of Health Reform, which would work closely with its White House counterpart to bring about healthcare reform and implement the president’s health policy agenda.

On the same day Obama issued his executive order, DeParle was meeting with 33 representatives from various fields within healthcare at the White House to discuss healthcare reform. The main topic of conversation, as in some other recent healthcare forums (McKnight’s, 4/9), was the role of chronic illness management in reducing healthcare costs. Chronic diseases currently account for roughly 75% of healthcare spending, DeParle heard at the meeting.