Statement By Former Speaker Of The House And Center For Health Transformation Founder Newt Gingrich On Tom Daschle's Selection For HHS Secretary

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 20 Nov 2008 - 2:00 PST

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"Today, Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle was tapped as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Given the current state of healthcare in America and the opportunity for real progress in Washington next year, President-elect Obama has chosen a proven leader.

Senator Daschle has long been committed to reforming healthcare so that all Americans can get quality, effective care. Daschle promotes greater transparency, paying for quality care, and a fully electronic health system-ideas that we at the Center for Health Transformation have also been championing for many years.

2009 will be a critical year in making real progress toward a 21st century intelligent health system. The Center for Health Transformation will soon outline our "Health Based Health Reform" initiative, a proposal that will bring Democrats, Republicans and Independents together to put the health back into health reform discussions.

Health-Based Health Reform should encourage and incentivize the adoption of best practices that save lives and save money. It should call for every American to have an electronic health record by December 2012. We should implement systems that can detect, eliminate and prevent healthcare fraud. And we should change the way we invest and budget federal dollars so we can score long-term savings. This vision is bold. But if this administration is serious about creating a paperless health system, it must be done.

We look forward to working together to transform health and healthcare in America."

Source
Michelle S. Stein
Communications Director
Center for Health Transformation
http://www.healthtransformation.net