This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Congressman Tom Price, MD, nominated as HHS secretary
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
President-elect Donald J. Trump announced Congressman Tom Price, MD, (R-Ga.) has been nominated as secretary of the HHS.
“It is an honor to be nominated to serve our nation as secretary of Health and Human Services,” Price said in a press release. “Thanks to President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence for their confidence. I am humbled by the incredible challenges that lay ahead and enthusiastic for the opportunity to be a part of solving them on behalf of the American people. There is much work to be done to ensure we have a health care system that works for patients, families and doctors; that leads the world in the cure and prevention of illness; and that is based on sensible rules to protect the well-being of the country, while embracing its innovative spirit.”
Empowering Patients First Act
Earlier this year, Price introduced the Empowering Patients First Act (H.R. 2300), which would fully repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and focus on the “principles of affordability, accessibility, quality, innovation, choices and responsiveness,” according to Price.
“Those principles form the foundation of the solutions in H.R. 2300 — solutions including individual health pools and expanded health savings accounts, tax credits for the purchase of coverage and lawsuit abused reforms to reduce the costly practice of defensive medicine,” Price said in a press release. “The solutions in the Empowering Patients First Act will get Washington out of the way, while protecting and strengthening the doctor-patient relationship.”
Price has also stated concerns on the final ruling of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), which mostly focused on how it could negatively affect the patient-doctor relationship.
In a statement, Gerald R. Williams Jr., MD, president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), noted Price has worked closely with the AAOS “on issues including repeal of the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula, oversight of mandatory bundled payment models, increasing flexibility within electronic health record programs, defending important in-office ancillary services and protecting the patient-physician relationship.”
Orthopedic surgeon
Price worked as an orthopedic surgeon in private practice for nearly 20 years. A former assistant professor and medical director of the Orthopedic Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Price served in the Georgia State Senate for four terms and became the first Republican Senate Majority Leader in Georgia. In 2004, he was elected to represent Georgia’s 6th District. Price was named chair of the House Committee on the Budget in the 114th Congress and has previously served as chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee and chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
“I have known Tom Price since he was part of the Emory faculty caring for our patients at Grady Memorial Hospital and he is absolutely the right choice at the right time to represent the best interests of patients and preserving and increasing access to quality and affordable health care,” Scott D. Boden, MD, Spine Section Editor for Orthopedics Today, and director of the Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center, told Orthopedics Today.
Anthony A. Romeo, MD, Chief Medical Editor of Orthopedics Today, sports medicine physician at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush and professor in the Department of Orthopedics at Rush University Medical Center, told Orthopedics Today, “[Price] gives me confidence that he will be able to make some valuable changes to our health care system. My hope is that he will be able to work with Rep. Paul Ryan to preserve the valuable parts of the ACA, but radically change the model to make it better. There will definitely need to be changes in Medicare/Medicaid CMS if it is to remain financially solvent. The concepts related to being more fiscally responsible have to be incorporated into future plans.” – by Casey Tingle and Kristine Houck
A note from the editors
Click here for more information on the Trump presidency.
- References:
- AAOS statement on nomination of orthopaedic surgeon Tom Price. Available at: http://newsroom.aaos.org/media-resources/Press-releases/aaos-statement-on-nomination-of-orthopaedic-surgeon-tom-price.htm. Accessed Dec. 7, 2016.
- About Tom Price. Available at: https://tomprice.house.gov/about/full-biography. Accessed Dec. 7, 2016.
- Price introduces Empowering Patients First Act. Available at: https://tomprice.house.gov/HR2300. Accessed Dec. 7, 2016.
- Price statement in response to final MACRA rule. Available at: https://tomprice.house.gov/press-release/price-statement-response-final-macra-rule. Accessed Dec. 7, 2016.
- Price statement on Nomination to Serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://tomprice.house.gov/press-release/price-statement-nomination-serve-secretary-health-and-human-services. Accessed Dec. 7, 2016.
- For more information:
- Anthony A. Romeo, MD, can be reached at 1611 W. Harrison St., Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60612; email: anthony.romeo@rushortho.com.
- Scott D. Boden, MD, can be reached at The Emory Orthopaedics and Spine Center, 59 Executive Park South NE, Atlanta, GA 30329.
Disclosure: Boden reports no relevant financial disclosure. Romeo reports he receives royalties, is on the speaker’s bureau and a consultant for Arthrex; does contracted research for Arthrex and DJO Surgical; receives institutional grants from AANA and MLB; and receives institutional research support from Arthrex, Ossur, Smith & Nephew, ConMed Linvatec, Athletico and Miomed.