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Date: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: HHS Press Office (202)690-6343
Co-chaired by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Labor, the Advisory Commission has broad-based representation from consumers, businesses, labor, health care providers, insurers, and quality and financing experts. The Advisory Commission members have vast expertise on a wide range of health issues including the unique challenges facing rural and urban communities, children, women, older Americans, minorities, people with disabilities, mental illness and AIDS. There are also members with extensive backgrounds in privacy rights and ethics. Advisory Commission members come from all parts of the country and reflect America's diverse population.
The President charged the Commission with developing a "Consumer Bill of Rights" to ensure that patients have adequate appeals and grievance processes. In developing the "Consumer Bill of Rights." the Commission will study and make recommendations on consumer protections, quality, and the availability and treatment of services. Using the best research to measure real outcomes and consumer satisfaction across all providers of health care, the Commission will work to give Americans the tools they need to measure and compare health care quality. It will submit a final report by March 30, 1998. The Vice President will review the final report before it is submitted to the President. In addition, the Advisory Commission will play a consultative role should relevant legislative initiatives move through the Congress prior to the due date of the final report.
The Clinton Administration has a long history of strong support for consumer protection in health plans, including executive actions and legislative initiatives barring gag rules; limiting physician incentive arrangements; increasing choice and consumer information; and requiring health plans to allow women to stay in the hospital for 48 hours after a mastectomy or after the delivery of a child. The President has called for this Commission to develop a broader understanding of the numerous issues facing a rapidly evolving health care delivery system and to help build consensus on ways to assure and improve quality health care.
DONALD BERWICK, of Newton, Massachusetts, is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
CHRISTINE K. CASSEL, of New York City, New York, currently serves as Chairman of the Henry L. Schwarz Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mt. Sinai Medical Center.
JAMES CHAO, of Naperville, Illinois, is the President of Metro Provider Service Corporation.
ROBERT GEORGINE, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is the President of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.
S. DIANE GRAHAM, of Paradise Valley, Arizona, is the Chairman and CEO of STRATCO, Inc., a mechanical and chemical engineering firm.
VAL J. HALAMANDARIS, of the District of Columbia, currently serves as the President of the National Association of Home Care (NAHC).
SANDRA HERNANDEZ, of San Francisco, California, currently serves as Director of Health for the City and County of San Francisco in the San Francisco Department of Health.
NAN HUNTER, of New York, New York, is an Associate Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School.
SYLVIA DREW IVIE, of Los Angeles, California, currently serves as the Executive Director of T.H.E. Clinic for Women in Los Angeles, a primary health care clinic.
RISA J. LAVIZZO-MOUREY, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the Director for the Institute of Aging, Chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine, Associate Executive Vice President for Health Policy, and the Sylvan Eisman Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Care Systems at the University of Pennsylvania.
SHEILA LEATHERMAN, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is Executive Vice President of the United Health Care Corporation.
L. BEN LYTLE, of Indianapolis, Indiana, is President and CEO of Anthem, Inc.
BEVERLY MALONE, of Greensboro, North Carolina, is the President of the American Nurses Association.
GERALD MCENTEE, of the District of Columbia, is the President of the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
PAUL MONTRONE, of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, is the President and CEO of Fisher Scientific International, Inc.
PHILLIP NUDELMAN, of Seattle, Washington, is the President and CEO of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, a non-profit managed health care delivery system.
HERBERT PARDES, of New York, New York, is the Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
RON POLLACK, of Alexandria, Virginia, a long-time advocate for low income Americans., currently serves as the Executive Director of Families USA.
MARTA PRADO, of Hollywood, Florida, is the Senior Vice President of InPhyNet Medical
Management and Chief Operating Officer of InPhyNet's Managed Care and Corrections
Divisions.
ROBERT RAY, of Des Moines, Iowa, is a former Governor of Iowa, and serves as Co-Chair of the National Leadership Coalition on Health Care.
THOMAS REARDON, of Boring, Oregon, is the Medical Director of the Portland Adventist Medical Group.
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, of Topeka, Kansas, currently serves as the Insurance Commissioner for the State of Kansas and as Vice Chair of the Health Committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
STEVEN S. SHARFSTEIN, of Baltimore, Maryland, one of the nation's leaders in mental health, is President, Medical Director and CEO of Sheppard Pratt, a non-profit behavioral health system.
PETER THOMAS, of the District of Columbia, is a principal in the law firm of Powers, Pylers, Sutter & Verville, P.C.
MARY WAKEFIELD, of McLean, Virginia, currently serves as the Director and Professor of the Center for Health Policy at George Mason University.
GAIL WARDEN, of Detroit, Michigan, currently serves as President and CEO of the Henry Ford Health Systems.
ALAN WEIL, of Denver, Colorado, currently is co-director of the Assessing the New Federalism Project at the Urban Institute.
SHELDON WEINHAUST of St. Louis, Missouri, is an attorney who has worked extensively representing workers in health care litigation.
STEPHEN F. WIGGINS, of Darien, Connecticut, is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Oxford Health Plans, Inc.
Janet Corrigan, of Columbia, Maryland, will be the Executive Director of the Advisory Commission on Consumer Quality and Protection in the Health Care Industry. She currently is a principal researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change.