President Obama announced yesterday his intent to nominate Richard Frank, the Margaret T. Morris Professor of Health Care Policy in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, to the post of assistant secretary for planning and evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“Richard is one of the nation’s foremost thought leaders in developing policies aimed at caring for the elderly, the economically disadvantaged, and people with disabilities,” said Barbara McNeil, chair of the Harvard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy. “For the HHS, a federal department dedicated to improving the well-being of America, Richard's unparalleled expertise and world-class scholarship will provide an invaluable resource.”
Frank joined the HMS Department of Health Care Policy in 1994 after 10 years at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. In 2009, Frank took a leave from Harvard to serve as deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the HHS in the Office for Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy. During this time, his office contributed to crafting parts of the Affordable Care Act that concerned the financing of long-term care (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act) as well as to the mental health parity regulations.
Since returning to HMS in 2011, Frank has focused on housing issues and the financing of long-term care. Of particularly interest to him is the question of how the U.S. can more effectively and efficiently serve those who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Frank is the 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Mental Health Association of Maryland. He has been a member of the Institute of Medicine since 1997, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1987, and is a co-editor of the Journal of Health Economics. Frank received a B.A. in economics from Bard College and a Ph.D. in economics from Boston University.
Frank was one of 29 nominees named for key administration posts. In a White House press statement, Obama said, “I am grateful that these talented and dedicated individuals have agreed to take on these important roles and devote their talents to serving the American people. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”
Another Harvard nominee is David Weil, co-director of the Transparency Policy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, who was nominated for administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor.
