News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, Dec. 31, 2004

HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343

HHS Highlights of 2004

Reducing major threats to the health and well being of Americans:

FDA put in place enhanced safeguards to protect the American food and cattle feed supplies from the spread of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease).
AoA led major outreach effort to educate high-risk seniors, particularly minorities, about the importance of receiving the flu shot.
HHS issued two groundbreaking reports from the Surgeon General focusing on guiding Americans to better health through education. The Surgeon General released "Health Consequences of Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General" (www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/smokingconsequences) and also issued "Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General" (www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/bonehealth).
Secretary Thompson established a national smoking quit line phone number (1-800-QUIT NOW) to give Americans additional resources to stop smoking.
HHS launched an education campaign with the Ad Council to provide great examples of the power of taking small steps for long-term, sustained weight control and good health. The Healthy Lifestyles & Disease Prevention initiative, which includes public service announcements and a new interactive Website at: www.smallstep.gov, encourages Americans to make small activity and dietary changes, such as using stairs instead of an elevator, or taking a walk instead of watching television.
Acting on Secretary Thompson's goals to educate the American people on the benefits of increased physical activity, improved diets and nutrition, and reduced obesity, particularly in workplace settings, CDC launched "Steps to a Healthier U.S. Workforce." This national initiative is aimed at improving health by integrating individual worker health and healthy lifestyle promotion with the prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries. www.cdc.gov/niosh/steps
Secretary Thompson, in support of President Bush's Steps to a HealthierUS (Steps) initiative, awarded $35.7 million in grants nationwide to support community programs that promote better health and prevent disease. The grants focus on reducing the burden of diabetes, overweight, obesity and asthma and addressing risk factors such as physical inactivity, poor nutrition and tobacco use www.healthierus.gov/steps/grants.html.
HHS partnered with WebMD Health to make HHS consumer health information more widely and more rapidly available to tens of millions of Americans through a new HHS "channel" on WebMD, which also provides its health information service to AOL and MSN subscribers. http://hhs.webmd.com

Enhancing the ability of the Nation's health care system to effectively respond to bioterrorism and other public health challenges:

HHS provided more than $1.3 billion to states, territories, and four major metropolitan areas to strengthen the ability of government and public health agencies, including hospitals and health care facilities, to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases and natural disasters that may cause mass casualties.
FDA took step to further improve food safety and security by publishing new regulations that require the food industry to establish and maintain thorough records of their activity as an added measure to protect the U.S. human food and animal feed supply from credible threats of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.
Harnessing modern molecular genetics, NIH scientists made rapid progress in developing three distinct SARS vaccine candidates. Just 21 months after SARS was recognized as a new infectious disease, the first of those candidates underwent testing in a clinical trial launched at the NIH Vaccine Research Center.
Building on several years of success, CDC launched a national media campaign about antibiotic resistance. CDC's GetSmart: Know When Antibiotics Work campaign educates patients and providers about the dangers of over-prescribing antibiotics. This campaign reached 86 million people, and resulted in 27 sites across the country developing local campaigns. CDC is aiming to support programs in all 50 states in 2005. www.cdc.gov/getsmart
CDC responded rapidly to an unexpected decrease in the nation's influenza vaccine supply. CDC began working with a wide range of partners, from health departments to private health care providers, to effectively target the nation's available influenza vaccine to those people at greatest risk for life threatening complications from influenza.
HHS deployed more than 600 Commissioned Corps officers and 100 other aid workers to support shelters and hospitals in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi in the wake of a series of devastating hurricanes. HHS also delivered $54.6 million in supplemental hurricane relief funds to provide mental health, substance abuse, medical and social services to people affected by the storms in those states.
HHS unveiled the draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan, which, for the first time, outlines a coordinated national strategy to prepare for and respond to a flu pandemic. www.hhs.gov/nvpo/pandemicplan
HHS teamed up with the Ad Council to announce an advertising campaign designed to provide Americans with critical information about flu vaccinations. The campaign asks Americans to "Give Others a Shot" if they are not in a priority group for the flu and provides simple tips to prevent the flu's spread. www.cdc.gov/flu/
HHS awarded the first contract under Project BioShield, which provides new tools to improve medical countermeasures protecting Americans against chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks, for 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine, which will be added to the Strategic National Stockpile. www.hhs.gov/asphep/ordc/bioshield

Increasing access to health care services and expanded choices for America's seniors:

CMS implemented the 18-month Medicare-Approved Prescription Drug Discount Card to help all eligible beneficiaries pay for their medicines and, for those eligible seniors with lower levels of income, an additional annual transitional assistance of $600 to further help. Through 2004, six million Americans were saving money on prescription drug costs through the discount cards.
CMS proposed regulations to provide a voluntary prescription drug benefit in Medicare and new health plan choices to provide those with Medicare better benefits, higher quality care, and substantial cost savings.
Secretary Thompson took steps to further reduce the cost of prescription drugs by approving the first-ever multi-state drug purchasing pool, allowing states to pool their purchasing power to purchase prescription drugs for their Medicaid beneficiaries at a lower price.
HRSA awarded 129 grants, worth $57 million, to increase access to health care for low-income and uninsured patients by expanding the number of health centers, enhancing operations at existing health centers, and expanding the range of health care services offered at federally supported health centers.

Enhancing the capacity and productivity of the Nation's health science research enterprise through health information technologies:

In support of President Bush's national goal of assuring that most Americans have electronic health records within 10 years, HHS took steps to coordinate nationwide efforts to move the nation closer to a national electronic health information infrastructure that would allow quick, reliable and secure access to information needed for patient care, while protecting patient privacy. HHS established the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. HHS also released, "The Decade of Health Information Technology: Delivering Consumer-centric and Information-Rich Health Care," which outlines the 10-year plan to build a national electronic health information infrastructure for America. http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/
AHRQ made a major contribution to health information technology research by awarding $139 million for a 5-year initiative consisting of grants and contracts to promote and evaluate selected applications of health information technology across the country to improve safety and quality of care.
IHS successfully moved several hospitals and clinics from a paper-based environment to an electronic health record environment, greatly helping providers manage all aspects of patient care faster and more accurately through a full range of electronic functions to support patient review, encounter and follow-up.
AHRQ released a new interactive tool, the Preventive Services Selector, which is an application for PDAs designed to help clinicians quickly and easily search for which preventive services to provide - or not provide - to patients based on their age and gender. http://pda.ahrq.gov/index.html
"Grants.gov," a unified web storefront to find and apply for federal grants and for which HHS is the managing partner, received its 1,000th electronic grant application. This milestone highlights the shift from a slower, paper-based grant application process to one that is more streamlined and is the only of 24 E-government initiatives to have successfully met goals set forth by the Office of Management and Budget. www.grants.gov

Improving the quality of health care services:

FDA took several steps to reduce medical errors and improve the quality health care. FDA published a rule requiring the use of bar codes on the labels of thousands of human drugs and biological products to help doctors, nurses and hospitals make sure that they give their patients the right drugs at the appropriate dosage. FDA also launched a new initiative to allow pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to more precisely keep track of drug products as they move through the supply chain. RFID is a state-of-the-art technology that uses electronic tags on product packaging and is similar to the technology used for tollbooth and fuel purchasing passes.
In work that may someday permit health care providers to tailor treatments to individuals, NIH-funded scientists discovered a genetic mutation that predicts which patients with non-small-cell lung cancer will respond to a particular drug treatment. This discovery allows doctors to predict response to therapy for a common cancer and allows them to genetically screen patients to determine who would most benefit from the treatment. This study also paves the way for genetic identification of patients likely to respond to other drugs designed to target specific molecular features of cancers.
CMS improved quality of care for nursing home residents through the Nursing Home Quality Initiative. www.cms.hhs.gov/quality/nhqi/
CDC enhanced its ability to quickly and effectively serve the public, health care providers, research universities, and health departments through business service improvements, including faster grant reviews, greater use of information technology, and Website improvements.
SAMHSA launched six new best practices tool kits for practitioners treating persons with mental disorders. The kits encourage the use of evidence-based practices in mental health to improve patient outcomes.
An NIH-funded clinical trial found that early treatment with eye drops could delay or prevent the development of glaucoma in African Americans. This study found that African Americans treated with pressure-reducing eye drops were almost half as likely to develop glaucoma compared with those who received no treatment. In addition, the study showed that certain biological characteristics of the eye (such as corneal thickness) are helpful in predicting who will likely develop glaucoma and who will benefit from therapy.

Improving the economic and social well being of individuals, families, and communities, especially those most in need:

More Americans continued to leave welfare and rejoin the workforce as ACF announced that welfare caseloads dropped to fewer than two million families for the first time since 1970. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseloads also dropped 1.3 percent for individuals and 0.8 percent for families between December 2003 and March 2004.
ACF provided $3.7 million to states for four projects to develop and test new community strategies to support healthy marriage and parental relationships with the goals of improving the well-being of children, promoting paternity establishment, and increasing financial and emotional support to children. This commitment brings the total number of grants of this kind to seven and the total amount of funding to more than $6million.
ACF's Compassion Capital Fund provided 145 grants, totaling $43 million, to support faith- and community based organizations that serve those in need. Of this, $38 million went to intermediary organizations that are helping smaller faith- and community-based organizations increase their capacity and effectiveness. The remaining $5 million went to 100 faith- and community-based organizations to directly fund their services. www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccf
SAMHSA launched a program to help states integrate services for persons with co-occurring substance and mental health disorders.
SAMHSA provided $67.4 million in homeless grants to deal with substance abuse and mental health problems that contribute to homelessness.
Through the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which allows states to use money to provide prenatal care for more low-income women and their babies, CMS covered more pregnant women for the benefit of their unborn children in 2004 than it had in 2003.
In an effort to reach out to populations severely affected by HIV/AIDS, HHS partnered with the Ad Council to create public service announcements aimed at young African-American men, encouraging them to get tested for HIV.
HRSA made an additional $20 million available to supply medications for HIV-positive persons through the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides HIV care, treatment, and support to those most in need.

Improving the stability and healthy development of our Nation's children and youth:

HRSA launched the "Take A Stand, Lend A Hand, Stop Bullying Now" campaign and interactive anti-bullying Website at http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/ aimed at youngsters between the ages of 9 and 13.
CDC announced that the nation's childhood immunization rates reached record high levels, including significant increases in rates of immunization for chickenpox and pneumococcal pneumonia, the two most recent additions to the childhood immunization schedule. National coverage with chickenpox vaccine increased from 80.6 percent in 2002 to 84.8 percent in 2003. Coverage for three or more doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine increased from 40.9 percent in 2002 to 68.1 percent in 2003. Coverage for four or more doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, reported for the first time this year, was 36.7 percent. Coverage for all other childhood vaccines and series, increased significantly in 2003 compared with 2002.
Secretary Thompson, the Surgeon General, and CDC participated at school-based events across the country to highlight the importance of healthy lifestyles among America's youth. As part of the campaign, National Football League players participated with the children in activities such as football tossing, catch, rope jumping and mini training camps. A new brochure with tips for parents, Help Your Kids Grow Up Healthy and Strong, was created for the events and shared with the Departments of Agriculture and Education. www.ed.gov/parents/academic/health/growhealthy/growhealthy.pdf
A CDC study showed fewer adolescents smoked in 2004 than any time since 1991 (i.e., the first year that CDC researchers used national surveys to monitor youth smoking.) CDC initiatives, state and local programs, and increases in cigarette retail prices have helped drive down the percentage of high school students who smoke from 36% to 22% -- a drop of around 2 million young smokers.
AHRQ partnered with FitTV, the newest network from Discovery Networks, U.S., to develop a new DVD collection to teach children and their parents about smart eating and physical activity, and to educate clinicians about the best ways to prevent and treat obesity in children.
NIH identified variations in the HNF4A gene that may increase the susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes. Because this "master regulatory" gene affects insulin secretion, variations in HNF4A can raise the risk of Type 2 diabetes about 20 to 30 percent. Now, through these efforts, both environmental interventions to prevent pediatric Type 2 diabetes are being evaluated and pilot trials have been launched that are designed to target food service and physical education changes in schools and to promote healthy habits.
Secretary Thompson launched a three-year public service campaign with the Ad Council to encourage people to adopt children from the foster care system. Since the 2002 launch of the AdoptUSKids Website that is the focus of the campaign, more than 3,000 children featured in the Website have been adopted and have realized the joys of being part of a family. www.adoptuskids.org

Better serving America by better serving HHS employees:

By consolidating 40 personnel offices into five human resources (HR) sites, HHS eliminated redundancy and duplication of effort, reduced HR staffing levels, and improved service delivery by installing automated tools to replace labor and paper intensive processes, including hiring, job classification, and maintenance of employee records.
HHS' Program Support Center established the Office for Business Technology Optimization to lead the Department's participation in many e-Gov initiatives. One is the electronic Official Personnel File implementation, which is transitioning 65,000 employee official personnel files from paper to an electronic medium with an expected savings of approximately $12 million over five years.
HHS began using the HHS Unified Financial Management System, which will unify the vast array of financial systems currently in use across HHS, to provide improved fiscal management and accountability for the largest budget in the Federal government. www.hhs.gov/ufms
HHS announced its sixth consecutive "Clean Opinion" on its audited financial statements through the Annual Performance and Accountability Report. www.hhs.gov/of/library/par04/pdfmenu

Strengthening Medical Diplomacy

Providing a strong response to a global crisis, Secretary Thompson announced four new grants totaling more than $10 million to enhance the HIV/AIDS research capacity and infrastructure in Peru, Thailand, Cambodia and Russia, four nations that have been hard hit by the AIDS epidemic.
Secretary Thompson traveled to Tanzania to visit HHS-funded clinics that treat and care for individuals with HIV and AIDS; to Haiti to provide $235,000 in drugs and medical supplies in the wake of Hurricane Jeanne; and to Iraq to assess progress in building Iraq's public health infrastructure and health care systems, which were starved and neglected under Saddam Hussein.
HHS distributed to women throughout Afghanistan a pioneering interactive women's health book built with the LeapPad� learning system technology, aimed especially at helping Afghan women who cannot read or write. The 42-page interactive books are available in both of Afghanistan's two major languages, Dari and Pashto, and deliver important basic health information through state-of-the-art audio and point and touch technology.
Secretary Thompson also announced a major public awareness effort to combat human trafficking and help its victims, including a toll-free hotline.
Secretary Thompson announced that the United States was pledging 20 million doses of smallpox vaccine to the global stockpile managed by the World Health Organization. The United States donation is by far the largest contribution to date to the global stockpile.
CDC and its partners celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first national polio vaccine trial. The polio immunization efforts of CDC and its international partners have helped reduce the total number of estimated cases to around 1,000 worldwide. By 2005, 5 million people who would have been paralyzed by polio will be walking thanks to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Since the initiative began in 1988, CDC and its partners have invested more than $3 billion and engaged more than 200 countries and territories in the fight against polio.
Secretary Thompson signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control at the United Nations. The treaty is the first-ever global public health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization and serves as an important basis for advancing public health worldwide by encouraging other nations to establish standards similar to the ones set for tobacco prevention and control domestically in the United States. www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040511.html

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last revised: January 21, 2005