Vladeck’s successor at HCFA named
Former OMB exec has good reputation
Nancy-Ann E. Min Deparle, a career government leader, has been named to replace HCFA Administrator Bruce Vladeck upon his resignation in September.
Before moving to HCFA, Deparle was associate director for health and personnel issues at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Her OMB portfolio includes primary responsibility for budgetary and policy matters relating to all federal health programs including Medicare and Medicaid plus veterans’ programs and federal employee compensation and personnel practices.
Prior to joining the Clinton administration, Deparle was Tennessee’s Commissioner of Human Services from 1987-89. There, she managed a 6,000-employee agency charged with overseeing the state’s food stamp, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and child welfare programs. She also has worked as a lawyer specializing in representing state governments in litigation involving federal health and welfare programs, as well as serving as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt Law School.
In 1994, Deparle was named to Time magazine’s roster of America’s 50 most promising up-and-coming leaders.
Washington insiders who know Deparle give her glowing reviews. "DeParle has a reputation for being smart, fair, and well-respected among both Democrats and Republicans," says Weedy Krasner, a well-connected Washington health care lawyer and lobbyist with McDermott Will & Emery.
The general consensus among health care policy experts is that DeParle’s White House policy experience, coupled with her stint running a major state agency, give her the right resume to make the changeover at HCFA relatively seamless. "She’s smart and well-liked. She has worked the Medicare and Medicaid beat from both the state and national perspective," notes Washington policy consultant Abe Schneider. "This puts her in a good position to help broker and implement meaningful Medicaid and Medicare reform, which the White House must do if it is to have a real chance at a balanced budget."
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