Legal Research

HHS Secretary’s Blog

I recently (yes, I know, better late than never) discovered (stumbled upon) Mike Leavitt’s blog. He is the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. I must say that I am impressed that a member of the President’s cabinet has a blog that he writes himself so that he can report directly to the public on today’s health issues. He even takes the time to answer some of the questions and comments posted on his blog. And to help us find his blog there is a link from the HHS’s home page.

Currently on his blog are entries on trips that he took to Iraq and Pakistan complete with pictures. He observed first hand the medical treatment of our military and talked with many of the doctors and nurses involved in their treatment. Makes for interesting reading!

In his Pakistan entries, he discusses the relationship between terrorist organizations and health care. From one of his posts, “In order to cultivate support among the local people of that region, terrorist groups work through non-governmental organizations friendly to their cause to undermine the credibility of the government in providing basic services like health care. They then set up clinics and actually provide services to the people themselves. Terrorist organizations have discovered the power of health as a tool in securing the loyalty of local people.” I never considered this connection but after reading Secretary Levitt’s blog it certainly does makes sense.

Archives of his posts go back to August 2007 and cover a multitude of health-related and Department-related topics. There is also a list of links to these topics so you don’t need to go through all the archives if you are just interested in one topic.

One of the topics that I blog about frequently are the issues involved with EHR’s (electronic health records).  This link assesses Secretary Levitt’s posts on Health IT (of which EHR’s are a part), comments from the public, and his responses.

I find all of this very refreshing – a blog written by an Administration Cabinet Member reporting directly to the people in his own words. I would love to see more  upper level government employees do the same.  And I surely do hope some version of this blog is continued by the next Secretary of HHS!

Full post as published by Jenkins Webblits on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).