Health Care Regulation and Oversight
In the federal government of the United States, the United States Department of Health and Human Services is the executive department responsible for health. It is managed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, a member of the Cabinet.
On March 2, 2009, President Barack Obama introduced Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his choice to fill the office of secretary of health and human services (still to be confirmed by the Senate) and Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, a health policy figure during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, to head the White House Office for Health Reform. President Obama also said he would release $155 million in the $787 billion economic stimulus measure to support 126 new health centers, with the goal of giving people more access to primary and preventive health care services.
State governments maintain state health departments, and local governments (counties and municipalities) often have their own health departments, usually branches of the state health department. Regulations of a state board may have executive and police strength to enforce state health laws. In some states, all members of state boards must be health care professionals. Members of state boards may be assigned by the governor or elected by the state committee. Members of local boards may be elected by the mayor council.
In 1980 the United States Congress legislated that the Department of Welfare and Health become the Department of Health and Human Services. The agencies of the Public Health Service are the Health Administration, which regulates health care to people without health care, the Food and Drug Administration, which certifies the safety of food, effectiveness of drugs and medical products, the Centers for Disease Prevention, which prevents disease, premature death, and disability, the Agency of Health Care Research and the Agency Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which regulates hazardous spills of toxic substances.
There are government institutes such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that identify threats to public health. In addition there are regulatory bodies such as the FDA that identify and approve drugs for medical use and sale. Many health care organizations also voluntarily submit to inspection and certification by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations, JCAHO.
A report issued by Public Citizen in April 2008 found that the number of serious disciplinary actions against physicians by state medical boards declined from 2006 to 2007. This was the third yearly decline in a row. The authors concluded that additional action is needed to improve the oversight provided by state medical boards.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) publishes an on-line searchable database of performance data on nursing homes. CMS also publishes a list of Special Focus Facilities - nursing homes with "a history of serious quality issues."
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), however, has found that state nursing home inspections understate the number of serious nursing home problems that present a danger to residents. The GAO concluded that while CMS oversight has improved, there are still weaknesses in its oversight of nursing homes.
Source:Wikipedia