As health reform law shapes policy and inspires heated debate, 2010 continues to be a remarkable year for healthcare. Here are 30 people who have played a major role in the healthcare industry this year.
Max Baucus (D-Mont.). Sen. Baucus is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and has played an influential role in the debate over healthcare reform in the United States. Mr. Baucus called the first Senate meeting of interested parties before the Senate Finance Committee to discuss healthcare reform, inviting representatives from pharmaceutical groups, insurance companies and HMOs. He has said that America is not yet ready for single payor healthcare and believes that health reform must strive for a "uniquely American solution." In response to Mr. Baucus' work on the Senate Finance Committee bill, AMA president J. James Rohack said, "The AMA applauds Chairman Baucus and his colleagues for their hard work and important contribution toward our mutual objective of comprehensive health system reform. Expanding coverage through tax credits, insurance market reforms that protect patients if they get sick or lose their job and offering more affordable choices through new health insurance exchanges will significantly improve our healthcare system." Mr. Baucus has been vocal on many issues concerning healthcare, including protecting Social Security and Medicare and expanding healthcare programs. Born and raised in Montana, Sen. Baucus was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 before being elected to the Senate in 1978, where he has served consecutively ever since.
Richard Bracken. Mr. Bracken currently serves as chairman and CEO of Hospital Corporation of America. He began his career with HCA in 1981 and has held various executive positions with the company, including CEO of the Green Hospital of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in San Diego, and CEO of Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Bracken also served as president of HCA's Pacific division. Mr. Bracken received his master's degree in hospital and healthcare administration from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He has served on numerous community and professional boards, including the California Hospital Association and the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville. Upon his second retirement from the position of HCA chairman in 2009, former chairman Jack Bovender said he "could not envision a better successor or more qualified guardian of our company's legacy" than Mr. Bracken.
Mark Chassin, MD. Mark Chassin, MD, is president of The Joint Commission, where he oversees the body responsible for accrediting a majority of the nation's facilities and helps set healthcare standards that are then implemented nationwide by the Commission's member organizations. After Dr. Chassin's appointment to The Joint Commission in 2008, State Health Commissioner Richard Daines, MD, said about his colleague, "[He] is a highly respected physician and leader in healthcare quality initiatives. He has experience in both the public and private sectors and is a great choice to head the Joint Commission." Before joining The Joint Commission, Dr. Chassin was the Edmond A. Guggenheim Professor of Health Policy and founding Chairman of the Department of Health Policy at the Mount Sinai School for Medicine, New York. Dr. Chassin has contributed to the field of quality improvement through The Joint Commission and his work at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he built a nationally recognized quality improvement program focused on achieving gains in quality of care, patient safety, clinical outcomes, family experience and working environment. A board-certified internist and experienced emergency medicine practitioner, he also served as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.
Francis S. Collins, MD. Dr. Collins became the 16th director of the National Institutes of Health in August 2009. A physician-geneticist noted for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, Dr. Collins served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH from 1993 until 2008. After the international project culminated in 2003 with a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book, Dr. Collins was awarded the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research. His own research laboratory has discovered several important genes, including the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. The head of the Association of American Universities, Robert M. Berdahl, told The Washington Post that Dr. Collins "is acutely aware of the public policy and ethical implications of medical science." Dr. Collins has long been interested in the relationship between science and faith and has detailed his views in The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. He received his medical degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and spent nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). Sen. Conrad has represented North Dakota in the U.S. Senate since 1986 and is a member of the Senate Finance Committee. He has written healthcare policy that ensured continued access to hospitals in rural areas and sponsored the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Act of 2009, which would establish a research institute with the mission of generating evidence for physicians and patients on effective treatments of diseases, disorders and other health conditions. He strongly opposes a public option and voted with Senate Finance Committee Republicans in Sept. 2009 against an amendment that would have provided for a public insurance option. About Sen. Conrad, Obama campaign manageer David Plouffe said in a statement, "[He] is obviously someone who knows what it takes to get elected in a red state. He is a respected voice for the middle class, for rural America." He was also supportive of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which placed limits on taxpayer-funded abortions. Sen. Conrad also serves as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Delos M. "Toby" Cosgrove, MD. Dr. Cosgrove, a thoracic surgeon, became CEO of the Cleveland Clinic in 2006 and has put the world-class institution front-and-center since. He re-organized clinical services into institutes, based on organs and diseases, and has taken many steps to improve the health of his 40,000 employees by refusing to hire smokers and introducing a subsidy for employees to enter Weight Watchers and fitness programs. He has also been a vocal critic of U.S. healthcare. Dr. Cosgrove joined the Cleveland Clinic in 1975 and was named chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgery in 1989. As CEO, Dr. Cosgrove presides over a $5 billion healthcare system comprised of the Cleveland Clinic, 10 hospitals and 15 family health and various ambulatory surgery centers. After Dr. Cosgrove's appointment as CEO, former Cleveland Clinic CEO Floyd Loop, MD, called his successor a "proven leader" in a statement. Dr. Cosgrove also has made a name as a heart surgeon, having filed 30 patents for products used in surgery. Dr. Cosgrove earned his MD from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville and completed his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and Brook General Hospital in London. He was also a surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, serving in Da Nang. Dr. Cosgrove was featured on the Becker's Hospital Review list of 60 notable physician leaders of hospitals and health systems.
Nancy-Ann DeParle, JD. As the director of the White House Office of Health Reform under President Obama, Ms. DeParle leads the administration's efforts on healthcare issues. Ms. DeParle, who worked with the Clintons on their health reform efforts of the 90's, is an expert on Medicare and Medicaid and helped the Obama administration expand those programs in pursuit of universal coverage. Healthcare lawyer and lobbyist Frederick Graefe commented on the appointments of Ms. DeParle and Ms. Sebelius to The Washington Post, saying that, "[They] are an outstanding team not only for the president but for the nation … they are both very smart and very well respected on the Hill by members of both parties." Prior to joining the Obama administration, Ms. DeParle worked in the private sector as a senior adviser to JPMorgan and then managing director to CCMP Capital Advisors. She also taught health policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. She has sat on the boards of many health companies, from medical treatment producers to hospital systems, and her industry knowledge gives her a unique insight into the needs of various stakeholders in the healthcare debate. Ms. DeParle is a Rhodes Scholar who earned her JD from Harvard University and her master's from Oxford University.
Trevor Fetter. Mr. Fetter has served as president and CEO of Tenet Healthcare Corp. since Sept. 2003 and also serves as a member of the company's board of directors. During Mr. Fetter's tenure, he has helped achieve a peace accord with organized labor and resolved all major litigation facing the company. USC senior vice president for medical care Stephen Ryan said in a statement that "Tenet needs and deserves the talented leadership team of Trevor Fetter as President and CEO and Edward Kangas as chair of the board. We have come through difficult times in the past … I am confident that with the focus on the quality of our faculty physicians, we will continue to have great success in the future." Mr. Fetter previously served as the chairman and CEO of Broadlane, a leading provider of cost-management services to both investor-owned and non-profit hospitals. He also currently serves as the chair of the board for the Federation of American Hospitals. Mr. Fetter holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He began his career with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, where he concentrated on corporate finance and advisory services for the entertainment and healthcare industries.
Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. During his tenure as Speaker, he represented the Republican Party in opposing President Bill Clinton and led the Republican revolution that ended 40 years of a Democratic majority in the House. He has been a vocal critic of President Obama, saying that the universal healthcare reform plan is leading America towards authoritarianism, totalitarianism and the end of democracy. Chip Kahn, who met Mr. Gingrich when he was a graduate student at Tulane, in New Orleans, told Mother Jones, "He always thought big thoughts. We would talk for hours about what being a leader was all about, what leadership meant, what politics were all about." Mr. Gingrich now works with the Center for Health Transformation, a collaboration of public and private sector leaders dedicated to the creation of a health system that "saves lives and saves money." According to its website, the Center advocates a "system-wide transformation" to provide cheaper, individual-centered healthcare. Mr. Gingrich is also a member of the advisory board for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and sits on the Board of Regents at the National Library of Medicine.
Gary Gottlieb, MD. Dr. Gottlieb has served as president of Partners HealthCare System, one of the most visible jobs in medicine, since the beginning of 2010. Partners is the largest private employer in the state of Massachusetts with 50,000 employees and has become a potent force in healthcare. Dr. Gottlieb had a national reputation for his work in geriatric mental health when he was recruited by Partners in 1998 to become head of psychiatric services and the interim head of North Shore Medical Center in Boston. Prior to becoming president of Partners HealthCare System, Dr. Gottlieb served as president of Partners' Brigham and Women's Hospital for eight years. He has also served as co-chair of the Mayor's Task Force to Eliminate Health disparities and as chair of the Private Industry Council, a civic workgroup that helps build the Boston healthcare workforce. About Dr. Gottlieb, Partners trustees chair Jack Connors said, "At Brigham and Women’s, Dr. Gottlieb has been a strong advocate for advancing patient care and safety initiatives, supporting the hospital’s research community as it opens new doors of discovery in medicine, and guiding an exceptional educational program that will lead the next generation of healthcare providers." Dr. Gottlieb was featured on the Becker's Hospital Review list of 60 notable physician leaders of hospitals and health systems.
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Sen. Grassley is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, where he serves as the Ranking Member, and has worked on creating policies to make healthcare more affordable and accessible. In 2003, he steered through Congress the first-ever comprehensive, voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefit. Sen. Grassley has been active in healthcare reform and has been helping to negotiate a bipartisan agreement on this issue. He opposes a public option and told The Wall Street Journal, "Government is not a competitor, it's a predator. We'd have 120 million people opt out [of private insurance], then pretty soon everyone is in healthcare under the government and there's no competitor." He has also been a staunch advocate of compliance and began an investigation about unreported payments to physicians by pharmaceutical companies. He also received the "Health Policy Hero" award from the National Research Center for Women and Families for his 2004 oversight of legislative reforms and the accountability of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Sen. Grassley was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974 and was elected to the Senate in 1980, where he continues to serve.
Glenn M. Hackbarth, JD. Mr. Hackbarth is the chairman of MedPAC, the commission that advises Congress on Medicare issues. He has experience as a healthcare executive, government official and policy analyst. In a news release regarding Mr. Hackbarth's appointment to MedPAC, Commonwealth Fund board chair James Tallon said, "Mr. Hackbarth is a nationally recognized leader working to move U.S. healthcare toward a high performance health system, and his diverse experiences as a healthcare executive, government official, and policy analyst will certainly enrich the board's deliberations." Mr. Hackbarth served as CEO and was one of the founders of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a multispecialty group practice in Boston that serves as a major teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and previously served as senior vice president of Harvard Community Health Plan and president of its Health Centers Division. Mr. Hackbarth has held various positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including deputy administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (now known as CMS). He currently serves as the vice chairman of the board of the Foundation of the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a board member at the National Committee for Quality Assurance and at the Commonwealth Fund.
George Halvorson. George Halvorson is the chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, headquartered in Oakland, Calif. As Kaiser's CEO, Mr. Halvorson oversees the nation's largest non-profit heath plan and hospital system, which serves about 8.6 million members and generates $42 billion in annual revenue. Halvorson serves on numerous medical boards and committees, including the board of the America's Health Insurance Plans, the board of the Alliance Community Health Plans and the American Hospital Association's Advisory Committee on Health Reform. He has also served as an advisor to the governments of Uganda, Great Britain, Jamaica and Russia on issues of health policy and financing. He is deeply committed to diversity and inter-ethnic healing and is currently writing a book about racial prejudice around the world. In a statement online, Kaiser vice president and chief diversity officer Ronald Knox said that Halvorson "leads diversity by example. He holds himself and his senior executive colleagues accountable for results." Before joining Kaiser Permanente, Mr. Halvorson was president and CEO of HealthPartners in Minneapolis. He has over 30 years of healthcare management experience and has held several senior management positions with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. Mr. Halvorson completed his graduate studies at the University of Minnesota and earned his MBA at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.
Mary Kay Henry. As president of the Service Employees International Union, Mary Kay Henry has improved jobs and quality of care for American workers, as well as advocated for a more humane healthcare system. Ms. Henry began working with SEIU in 1979 and was elected to the International Executive Board in 1996. She was elected president of SEIU in May 2010 and has said that her major priorities as president are to advocate for labor rights, immigrants' rights and LGBTQ rights. In a 2008 editorial on accessible healthcare, Ms. Henry said, "Our challenge in solving this problem is not a lack of ideas, but a lack of political will. That's why SEIU is working to mobilize our nation for change: We’re pulling together coalitions of business, labor, civic, and faith leaders … and we’re galvanizing people across the country to elect leaders committed to fixing healthcare." After passing the position of SEIU president to Ms. Henry, former president Andrew Stern said in a statement, "I have worked side by side with Mary Kay Henry and witnessed her extraordinary passion for justice and the natural gift that can only be called her way with people." Ms. Henry received her degree from Michigan State University and joined the SEIU as a researcher just one year after graduation. During her time at SEIU, Ms. Henry has also helped provide healthcare for millions of children and strengthened the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Karen Ignagni. Ms. Ignagni is the president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade association that represents the country's insurance providers. She was the leader of the American Association of Health Plans before it merged with the Health Insurance Association of America to form AHIP. Former Medicare administrator Tom Scully told MSNBC that Ms. Ignani is "always on her game and knows her substance. Health insurance CEOs come and go, but Karen has always been a constant." Ms. Ignagni also directed the AFL-CIO's Department of Employee Benefits and served as a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. She has authored more than 90 articles on a wide range of healthcare policy issues and appears regularly before congressional committees and on national newscasts. Ms. Ignagni sits on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the Board of the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Partnership for Prevention and the Bryce Harlow Foundation, an organization that rewards individuals who work to advance business-government relations. Ms. Ignani was recently featured in Becker's Hospital Review as a hospital industry leader to know.
Charles "Chip" Kahn III. Mr. Kahn is the president of the Federation of American Hospitals, the national advocacy organization for investor-owned hospitals and health systems, and is an expert on health policy, Medicare payment, healthcare financing and the uninsured. He currently directs a lobbying group that supports access to healthcare coverage by expanding government programs and offering subsidies to those who don't quality. In March 2010, he drew attention to hospital support of healthcare reform legislation by praising President Obama's efforts—a markedly different stance than the one he took to the Clintons' healthcare reform efforts in the 90's. He explained to Newsweek that there is now wide acknowledgement that quality of care has eroded since 1994 and something needs to be done. "Things are different today," Mr. Kahn said. Mr. Kahn was appointed to the governing board of the National Quality Forum and serves as a principal in the Hospital Quality Alliance. Prior to coming to the FAH, Mr. Kahn was president of the Health Insurance Association of America and focused national attention upon the plight of the uninsured during his tenure. He was recently featured in Becker's Hospital Review as a hospital industry leader to know.
Michael Maves, MD. Dr. Maves serves as executive vice president and CEO of the American Medical Association, the nation's largest physician group. On his first day as executive vice president of the AMA, Dr. Maves pledged in a statement to collaborate with other healthcare organizations and industry leaders to provide the best possible patient care. "You can look at examples in American business … of times being tough and a leader or a group of leaders—and in our case, I do think this is a group exercise—coming together and saying there's a pressing need that's bigger than any of us," he said. Before joining the AMA, Dr. Maves was executive vice president of the American Academy of Otolaryngology from 1994 to 1999 and head of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association in Washington, D.C. He has served as a specialty society representative and alternate delegate to the AMA House of Delegates, as well as a governor of the American College of Surgeons. In the field of otolaryngology, Dr. Maves has distinguished himself as an accomplished academic, having held faculty positions at the Saint Louis University College of Medicine, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and Indiana University School of Medicine. He is currently an adjunct professor at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
Edward Miller, MD. Dr. Miller has served as CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine since 1997. Under his leadership, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the School of Medicine have consistently ranked among the best in the nation in U.S. News & World Report. Dr. Miller is currently implementing a master plan to replace aging facilities on the East Baltimore medical campus and develop a life sciences park adjacent to the campus. He also recently established the Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care to ensure that Johns Hopkins Medicine leads the field in patient protection. About Dr. Miller's appointment to Millennium Pharmaceuticals board of directors, Millennium CEO Mark Levin said, "Dr. Miller's expertise in the area of healthcare policy, his involvement with the FDA regulatory process, and his clinical expertise at one of the world's most renowned research and medical [are] extremely valuable." A noted anesthesiologist, Dr. Miller joined Johns Hopkins as a professor and director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine in 1994. Before joining Johns Hopkins, he worked as a professor and chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York. He received his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and completed his surgical internship at University Hospital in Boston and his residency in anesthesiology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. Dr. Miller was featured on the Becker's Hospital Review list of 60 notable physician leaders of hospitals and health systems.
Gary Newsome. Mr. Newsome was appointed president and CEO of Health Management Associates in 2008 after spending five years in management positions at the hospital operation from 1993 to 1998. HMA owns and operates 56 hospitals, with approximately 8,000 licensed beds, in non-urban communities located through the United States. Before he began his work as president of HMA, Mr. Newsome was president of hospital operations for the division of Community Health Systems that includes hospitals in Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia. William Schoen, chairman of the board of HMA, said about Mr. Newsome in 2008, "Throughout his career, including his tenure at HMA, Gary has distinguished himself as one of the hospital industry's most outstanding operating executives." Mr. Newsome began his career in hospital operations with Humana and received his master's in business administration from Butler University in Indianapolis.
John Noseworthy, MD. John Noseworthy, MD, became president and CEO of Mayo Clinic in May 2009. He previously served as the medical director of the Mayo Clinic Department of Development and a professor in the Department of Neurology. He is a vice chair of the Mayo Clinic Rochester Executive Board and led the "Mayo Clinic 2020" task force to help establish long-term institutional direction. Of his successor's appointment, former Mayo CEO Denis Cortese, MD, said in a statement, "Dr. Noseworthy is the perfect choice to continue our commitment to building on the solid foundation of our heritage as we look at providing the Mayo Clinic model of care to new people in new ways." Dr. Noseworthy specializes in multiple sclerosis and contributed to the research field for more than two decades by designing and conducting controlled clinical trials. He helped found the Sylvia Lawry Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Research in Munich, Germany, for the purpose of advancing research into effective therapies for the illness. He also served as the editor-in-chief of Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology. In December 2009, Dr. Noseworthy announced his attention to keep Mayo Clinic involved in the discussion on national health reform, contending that health reforms need to reward systems that provide quality healthcare at reasonable prices. Dr. Noseworthy has an MD from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada and completed his neurology training at Dalhousie University and the University of Western Ontario and a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Noseworthy was featured on the Becker's Hospital Review list of 60 notable physician leaders of hospitals and health systems.
Barack Obama. President Obama is the 44th and current President of the United States and the first African American to hold the office. A Democrat, President Obama served as the junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2005 until 2008. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School and worked as a civil rights attorney and constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School. In 2009, Obama called for Congress to approve a 1,017-page plan that would overhaul the U.S. healthcare system by adding a government insurance plan to compete with the corporate insurance sector, making it illegal for insurers to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions and requiring every American to carry health insurance. The healthcare bill passed in the Senate without the public option in Dec. 2009, and President Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010. Several states have questioned the constitutionality of the bill, and it remains to be seen whether the American public will embrace the plan. In a conference on the Affordable Care Act yesterday, President Obama said, "On July 1st, uninsured Americans who’ve been locked out of the insurance market because of a preexisting condition will now be able to enroll in a new national insurance pool where they’ll finally be able to purchase quality, affordable healthcare — some for the very first time in their lives."
Peter Orszag. Mr. Orszag is the director of the Office of Management and Budget, which assists the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies. He served as the director of the Congressional Budget Office from Jan. 2007-Dec. 2008, and under his leadership, the agency significantly expanded its focus on healthcare. He repeatedly drew attention to the role of rising healthcare expenditures in future U.S. fiscal problems and told The American Prospect, "I have not viewed CBO's job as just to passively evaluate what Congress proposes, but rather to be an an analytical resource. And part of that is to highlight things that are true and that people may not want to hear, including that we need to address healthcare costs." Mr. Orszag served as special assistant to the President for Economic Policy, as a staff economist and as senior advisor and senior economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He was the Joseph A. Pechman senior fellow and deputy director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Mr. Orszag recently announced that he will step down from his position in July. Commenting on his departure, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "I would say obviously Peter has served alongside a valuable and within a valuable economic team that has faced the greatest economic crisis that any President has faced since the Great Depression. It has taken — it's an enormous task."
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Nancy Pelosi is the 60th and current Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the first woman to hold the position. A Democrat, Ms. Pelosi was instrumental in the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. In 2010, Ms. Pelosi said about her determination to ensure passage of the healthcare reform bill, "We will go through the gates. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health reform passed." Ms. Pelosi was also a key figure in convincing President Obama to push for healthcare reform after the election of Republican Sen. Scott Brown, Mass. After the healthcare bill was passed in the House, House majority leader Steny Hoyer praised Ms. Pelosi in a post-vote press conference, saying she is set apart from other politicians by "her focus, her vision, her tenacity, [and] her energy." Ms. Pelosi has also worked on accelerating the development of an HIV vaccine, expanding access to Medicaid for HIV victims and securing health insurance for people with disabilities. Before being elected Speaker, Ms. Pelosi was the House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007 and has been a member of Congress since 1987. She represents California's eighth district in the House of Representatives, an area that includes most of the city of San Francisco.
Karl Rove. Karl Rove, senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, is a vocal critic of President Obama's plan for healthcare reform. In June 2010, he published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal called "The Bad News About ObamaCare Keeps Piling Up," in which he said that millions of Americans will lose their existing coverage under the new law. He also said that "families making less than $30,000 and individuals making less than $15,000 a year will be dumped into Medicaid, widely viewed as second-class healthcare." While at the White House, Mr. Rove headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Though Mr. Rove is often the target of criticism, the people who know him personally paint a gentler picture of the controversial politician. "You expect a partisan who’s on stage all the time, and it doesn’t function that way in real life. You get a father and husband," said David Dreyer, the former deputy communications director in the Clinton White House. "I think it’s sad … that we so often have such an extraordinarily one-dimensional view of people, of our fellow human beings." Since leaving his position in the Bush administration, Mr. Rove has worked as a political analyst and contributor for Fox News, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. He has also worked as a Republican political consultant and strategist and was credited with George W. Bush's successful 1994 and 1998 Texas gubernatorial victories and 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Kathleen Sebelius. Ms. Sebelius serves as the 21st Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CMS, and is the principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans. Ms. Sebelius previously served as the governor of Kansas and has been a leader on healthcare issues for over 10 years. As governor, Ms. Sebelius worked to ensure every child in Kansas had healthcare, increased newborn screenings and put a renewed emphasis on childhood immunization. She was named by Time magazine as one of the nation's top governors in 2005. On her appointment to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski said, "Governor Sebelius is a proven leader and expert in the healthcare arena and has worked tirelessly as the governor of Kansas to improve and streamline their healthcare system, resulting in greater healthcare coverage and affordability for the citizens of her state." Ms. Sebelius was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1986 and left in 1994 to run for state Insurance Commissioner. In this role, she blocked the proposer merger of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's largest health insurer, with an Indiana-based company, marking the first time the corporation's acquisition attempts had ever been rebuffed.
Scott Serota. As president and CEO of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Mr. Serota helps oversee a national federation of 39 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. The Blue System is currently the nation's largest health insurer, covering 100 million people—one in three Americans. Mr. Serota was named president and CEO of BCBSA in 2000 after serving as a senior executive and executive vice president for system development. "Our mission is to progress the constancy of these proven, proof-based treatments at hospitals across the nation," said Mr. Serota in a statement. "Making this knowledge work to advantage providers, employers and consumers is the founding principle of the Blues' vision for better health insurance quotes." Prior to joining the BCBSA, Mr. Serota was president and CEO of Chicago-based Rush Prudential Health Plans, where he led the integration of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center Health Plans and The Prudential. Mr. Serota was appointed by President George Bush to the Policy Committee of the White House Conference on Aging, the administration and congress on policies, programs and services affecting the nation's senior citizens.
Wayne Smith. Mr. Smith has been president and CEO of Community Health Systems since 1997 and has helped the company grow from $742 million to more than $12.1 billion in net revenue. He graduated from Trinity University with a master's degree in hospital administration. Mr. Smith spent 23 years working for Humana, where he progressed from hospital administration to president and COO. While at Humana, he was tasked with turning around a financial crisis brought about by a flaw in the company's Humana Health Plans, which he successfully accomplished in two years. "Humana almost had to shut the Health Plan down, but Wayne came over and took the right amount of time to look at it and understand it," said Vicky Gregg of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, who ran Humana's Louisville market at the time, in an interview with BusinessTN. "Wayne can take a very complicated situation, simplify it and make it successful." In 1997, Mr. Smith became president and CEO of CHS, where he focused his attention on purchasing non-urban, not-for-profit hospitals. CHS merged with Triad Hospitals in 2007 and is currently counted as the second largest acute-care hospital chain in the United States.
Anthony Tersigni, PhD. Mr. Tersigni has served as president and CEO of Ascension Health, the nation's largest Catholic and largest non-profit health system, since 2004. Prior to working at Ascension Health, he was president and CEO at St. John Health, Detroit, Ascension Health's largest integrated health system. Upon his appointment to president and CEO of Ascension, Mr. Tersigni said in a statement, "It's a privilege for me to lead this outstanding organization with the mission of serving the poor and vulnerable. We have a strong team with a bold agenda to take a leadership role in the transformation of healthcare." He also served the St. John system as executive vice president and COO from 1994 to 1995. He has held various senior leadership positions in other healthcare organizations, including the Sisters of St. Joseph Health System, Ann Arbor, Mich. and the Detroit Medical Center, Detroit. He also worked as a clinical professor of health and behavioral science at Oakland University, Rochester, Mich. Mr. Tersigni holds a doctorate in leadership and organizational development from Western Michigan University. He serves as the chair-elect of The Catholic Health Association of the United States. In a statement in response to the recent healthcare reform legislation, Mr. Tersigni pushed Ascension Health to "continue to be a voice in ensuring all Americans have access to quality healthcare so that we have a society that provides 'healthcare that leaves no one behind.'"
Richard Umbdenstock. Mr. Umbdenstock is the president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, the national organization that represents hospitals, healthcare networks and their patients and communities. He was also past chair of the AHA board of trustees and served on the executive committee, chairing the operations committee. Mr. Umbdenstock said in an interview with AHA News Now that hospitals should be "performance-driven" and that the system's "philosophy is not about cost-containment. The philosophy is higher-quality care for our patients, driven by what they want." He also served on the Circle of Life committee and chaired the Task Force on Coverage & Access. Mr. Umdenstock has 11 years of experience as an independent consultant for voluntary hospital governing boards in the United States and Canada. He also served as executive vice president of Providence Health & Services, an integrated healthcare system formed through the merger of Providence Services and Providence Health System, and he served as president and CEO of the former Providence Services, based in Spokane, Wash.