SEC. OF HHS SEBELIUS TALKS ABOUT NURSING DURING NATIONAL NURSES WEEK

Secretary Sebelius Statement in Honor of National Nurses Week 2012

During National Nurses Week, we recognize the tremendous contributions that nurses make to keeping America healthy. As passionate advocates, leaders and innovators for better health, America’s nurses have demonstrated their commitment to meeting the public’s health care needs.

The health initiatives called for by the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, would not be possible without our nation’s nurses. By expanding investments in primary and preventive care programs in which nurses play a vital role, the Affordable Care Act strengthens the focus on keeping people healthy and managing chronic conditions. Through the law and other efforts, the Department of Health and Human Services is working to ensure that nurses get the support and training they deserve and need to do their job.

Since the beginning of the administration, the number of mostly uninsured or under-insured patients getting care at community health centers has grown by 2.4 million people, primarily due to funding by the Affordable Care Act and the Recovery Act. About 16,000 nurses now work at community health centers, an expansion of about 3,000 nursing positions. With continued support from the Affordable Care Act through fiscal 2014, the number of nurses at health centers will continue to grow.

More nurses are getting assistance in securing needed training or repaying educational loans, partly through an expansion of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), under the Health Resources and Services Administration, which ensures that primary care providers practice in  underserved areas in exchange for receiving scholarship support or loan repayment. The Affordable Care Act allocated $1.5 billion over five years to expand the NHSC.

And recognizing that better training and support for nurses will mean higher quality care for seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced a four-year, $200 million Affordable Care Act demonstration partnering certain hospitals with nursing schools and non-hospital community-based care settings to provide advance practice registered nurses with clinical training to help strengthen primary care across the country.  

Please join me during this National Nurses Week in thanking our nation’s nurses for the critical work they do in bringing better care and better health to all Americans.

SEC. OF HHS KATHLEEN SEIBELIUS ON NEW THERAPEUTIC USES OF EXISTING COMPOUNDS

Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Compounds
May 3, 2012
Washington, D.C.
When we look back over recent history, we see that biomedical research is responsible for some of our greatest progress, from the discovery of penicillin to the development of effective therapies for cancer. Diseases that had once been a death sentence have been eradicated or cured. Conditions that had once been disabling are now manageable.

These achievements have not only saved the lives and improved the health of millions. They have also sparked enormous economic growth and created countless new jobs.

At the beginning of a new century, we can see even bigger opportunities ahead. Last week, at the White House, I helped introduce our nation’s first-ever Bioeconomy Blueprint -- this administration’s commitment to strengthening bioscience research as a major driver of American innovation and economic growth.

And keeping America on the forefront of the search for new cures and treatments is fundamental to achieving that vision.

Yet the road from the research lab to an approved and marketable drug is a long one. And today there are many detours and obstacles along the way. It can take many years and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring one new drug from discovery to the marketplace, and most new projects fail in the early stages.

If we want to find the cures of the 21st Century, we need to chart a clear path forward. And that is why this administration has undertaken a major effort to identify and remove roadblocks at every stage of the development process.

Last December, we took a big step forward with the creation of NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The Center’s mission is to develop the tools and approaches we need to help everyone searching for new cures to move forward faster.

One of the Center’s early priorities has been to take advantage of the many pharmaceutical-industry compounds that were originally developed and tested for one particular purpose, but ultimately not approved. What we know is that many of these compounds may have other potential uses. We just need to do the research to identify them.

The drug AZT, for example, was originally tested against cancer and failed. Only later was it discovered to be an effective treatment for HIV -- the first medicine we found to work against the virus. And Michael, who is with us here today, will talk about what that discovery has meant for him.

In the search for new cures and treatments, these compounds offer a big advantage over those still being developed in the lab. They have already cleared many of the early clinical and regulatory hurdles, allowing researchers to identify new therapies more quickly -- and allowing companies to bring them to market more efficiently.

And yet, many of these compounds have not been re-evaluated. Or, if they are re-evaluated, that research is typically conducted through traditional partnerships of very limited size and scope.
But today that is changing.
I am proud to announce a new collaborative program that will allow far more researchers to study pharmaceutical-industry compounds and pursue vital new treatments for patients.
Our goal is simple: to see whether we can teach old drugs new tricks. And to get there, we are taking an innovative approach: crowd-sourcing these compounds to our brightest minds and most inventive companies.

Under the initiative we are launching today, any researcher with a promising scientific idea can apply for a new grant to test compounds from our partners against a variety of diseases and conditions.

Through the program, the National Institutes of Health intend to provide at least $20 million in Fiscal Year 2013 to support the grants. And for their part, the companies will provide researchers with access to the compounds and all related data.
This new kind of partnership is an investment -- not only in our researchers, but in our nation.

Because, when America’s scientists have the tools and the resources to pursue the next great discoveries, we all benefit. It makes our nation stronger, healthier, and more competitive.

And now, I’d like to introduce a critical leader in that partnership: the Director of our National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins.

HHS SECRETARY SEBELIUS ON OLDER AMERICANS MONTH

Statement from Secretary Sebelius on Older Americans Month

In May, we recognize Older Americans Month -- a tradition dating back to 1963 to honor the many contributions of our nation’s older citizens.  This year's theme “Never Too Old to Play” encourages older Americans to stay active in their own lives and in their communities.  Older Americans are living longer and are more active than ever before. With the aging of the baby boomer generation – the largest in America’s history – our senior population is expected to number 72.1 million by 2030.  This increase will present all of us with tremendous opportunities, as well as, new challenges.

Keeping our nation’s older citizens and their families healthy is a top priority of the Obama administration.  At the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we are working to expand access to affordable, high-quality health care. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more than 5 million people with Medicare saved an average of $635 on the cost of their prescription drugs in 2010 and 2011.  Individuals with Medicare prescription drug coverage who had to pay for drugs in the “donut hole” coverage gap received a one-time, tax free $250 rebate from Medicare for prescriptions and a 50 percent discount on many brand-name medications. The donut hole will be closed by 2020 as a result of the health care law.

We know that preventing disease before it starts helps people live longer, healthier lives. The new health care law is giving older Americans greater control over their own health by providing many free preventive services in Medicare such as flu shots, mammograms, and an annual wellness visit so seniors can spend more time with their doctors. In 2011, more than 32.5 million seniors took advantage of one or more preventive services covered without cost-sharing.

Through the Affordable Care Act and other efforts underway at HHS, we are working hard to ensure that older Americans of today and tomorrow are able to age healthy in their homes and communities.

SECRETARY SEBELIUS ON EARTH DAY ANNIVERSAY

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Statement from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the 42nd anniversary of Earth Day

The first Earth Day, conceived by Sen. Gaylord Nelson and observed across the country on April 22, 1970, highlighted a growing public concern for ecological issues.  Forty-two years later, the call to protect our planet still resonates. At the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we are committed to protecting the health and well-being of all Americans, and it is clear that the health of the American people is connected to the health of our environment.

A 2011 study published in Health Affairs found that poor childhood health triggered by environmental causes, such as exposure to toxic chemicals and pollutants, cost the United States $76.6 billion, or 3.5 percent of national health care costs in 2008.  We at HHS promote comprehensive public health and environmental policies, recognizing not only the economic impact of an unhealthy environment, but also its toll on human lives. The Affordable Care Act, the new health care law, is helping to ensure that all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable health care no matter what their ethnic, racial or socioeconomic background.

I have had the opportunity to meet with people across the country and hear their stories.  When I visited Cleveland, Ohio, I met a woman whose daughter has suffered since childhood from asthma and was having trouble finding insurance due to her pre-existing condition. While we still have more work to do in fostering and sustaining healthy environments, the new health care law prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage for children with pre-existing conditions, including those with environmentally induced conditions such as asthma and certain cancers.  In 2014, Americans of all ages, including this woman’s daughter, will be protected from this insurance industry abuse.

I hope that you will join me in observing Earth Day 2012, and that every day you will answer the call to protect our environment and in doing so, contribute to the health of our country. Earth Day reminds us that in order to maintain our own ability to thrive and live healthy lives, we must take actions that promote and maintain the health of our environment.