November 3, 2005 -- HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced a series of National Town Hall meetings to hear directly from health care administrators, institutional providers, physicians, practitioners, patients, and others about quantifying the economic impact of federal health care regulations.

The meetings are intended to seek input from a cross section of leaders from the health care industry and those most affected by HHS regulations in an effort to simplify regulations while improving the safety and quality of our health care system.

"America's health professionals and advanced research institutions shouldn't be burdened by unnecessary and redundant paperwork," Secretary Leavitt said. "Our efforts to identify burdensome regulations will lead to better health care delivery and research."
HHS' commitment toward the development of smart and efficient regulations and regulatory processes has been met with success. In 2001, the HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform launched an effort to streamline unnecessarily burdensome regulations that interfere with the quality of health care for Americans.

Through a series of public meetings, the committee focused on policy areas where immediate changes could be made toward improving the quality of care. Of the committee's 255 recommendations, more than 80 percent have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented.

HHS' current effort to examine the economic impact of health care regulations will explore both immediate steps and longer-term proposals for reducing regulatory burden, while maintaining the highest quality health care and other patient protections.

The first meeting is being held today in Washington, D.C. Additional Town Hall meetings will be held in Chicago, Oklahoma City, and San Francisco over the next few months. More details about the schedule of Town Hall meetings and information about how to register for the meetings are available at http://townhallmeeting.s-3.net/.

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