President Obama Selects Top Rural Health Care Advocate to Oversee Key HHS Agency

WHITEHOUSE.gov ^ | Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pm | n/a

[Cindy]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Selects-Top-Rural-Health-Care-Advocate-to-Oversee-Key-HHS-Agency/

Note: The following text is a quote:

THE BRIEFING ROOM

Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

President Obama Selects Top Rural Health Care Advocate to Oversee Key HHS Agency

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

________________________

For Immediate Release February 20, 2009

President Obama today announced the appointment of one of the nation’s top rural health care professionals as Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Dr. Mary Wakefield, Director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota, will oversee this critical agency, which helps to deliver health care to those who are uninsured and underserved by our current health care system.

"As a nurse, a Ph.D., and a leading rural healthcare advocate, Mary Wakefield brings expertise that will be instrumental in expanding and improving services for those who are currently uninsured or underserved," President Obama said. "Under her leadership we will be able to expand and improve the care provided at the Community Health Centers which serve millions of uninsured Americans and address severe provider shortages across the country."

In addition to Community Health Centers across the country upon which millions of uninsured Americans depend for coverage, HRSA oversees many programs that the federal government runs to bring health care providers to underserved areas throughout the nation. In addition, HRSA will administer $2.5 billion allocated in the Recovery Act to invest in our health care infrastructure and train health care professionals.

Dr. Wakefield’s Bio:

Dr. Mary Wakefield was most recently the Associate Dean for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where she was a tenured professor and Director of the Center for Rural Health. Dr. Wakefield has expertise in rural health care, quality and patient safety, Medicare payment policy, workforce issues, and public policy. She has authored many articles and columns on health policy and is on the editorial board of a number of professional journals.

Dr. Wakefield previously served as director of the Center for Health Policy, Research, and Ethics at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She also served as the Chief of Staff for United States Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) from January 1993 to January 1996 and as Legislative Assistant and Chief of Staff to Senator Quentin Burdick (D-ND).

Dr. Wakefield has served as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs’ Special Medical Advisory Group. She served as Chair of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Health Care Quality for Rural America and of the Catholic Health Initiatives Board of Trustees, and was a subcommittee chair for President Clinton's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry.

Dr. Wakefield received her M.S. in nursing and her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and her B.S. in nursing from the University of Mary at Bismarck, ND. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and is a recipient of numerous awards including the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) 2006 Nurse Research Award and the 2008 Nursing Economics Margaret D. Sovie Writer's Award.

THE WHITE HOUSE, February 20, 2009.

[Robert A Cook PE]

...will oversee this critical agency, which helps to deliver health care to those who are uninsured and underserved by our current health care system.

So, if health care is delivered to those who are uninsured and under insured by the current system, then they ARE covered by today's (somewhat inefficient) health care process.

So why do we need national health care - which will only screw up health care for the remaining 85 percent of American population.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“So why do we need national health care - which will only screw up health care for the remaining 85 percent of American population.

Because it will screw up health care for the remaining 85 percent of American population. It will also let the RAT politicians steal from the system.

[livius]

I recall reading somewhere that a big part of this is a backdoor way of expanding abortion into parts of the country that have been resistant to it.

Looks to me like they found another female “pro-abortion Catholic” to carry out the plan.

[SumProVita]

Great example of an oxymoron: “pro-abortion Catholic”

(sigh)

[The Great RJ]

A PhD in nursing is pretty rare...my wife is in the final stages of her dissertation for a nursing PhD.

[socialismisinsidious]

Socialized Medicine aka Universal Health Care PING LIST

FReepmail me if you want to be added to or removed from this ping list.

[CrystalD]

Known as HRSA, the agency oversees some 7,000 community clinics that serve low-income and uninsured people. It also runs the government's Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, providing medical care and medications for 530,000 low-income patients. The recently passed economic stimulus bill gives HRSA $2.5 billion to spend for improvements to health care facilities and training medical professionals.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-obama-health-centers,0,7517569.story

[mojitojoe]

I’m not paying for their health care. I pay for mine, they can pay for theirs. If you are imaginative, you can get around these things. Cash and barter are your friends.