Mark McClellan

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Mark B. McClellan (born June 26, 1963) was sworn in as Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the United States Department of Health and Human Services on March 25, 2004. In this position, he is responsible for administering the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Following the resignation of Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson in 2004, McClellan was mentioned as a possible replacement, but President Bush ultimately nominated former Utah governor Mike Leavitt. On September 5, 2006, McClellan announced his resignation from the post. He told The Associated Press he would be leaving the agency in about five weeks and would probably work for a think tank where he could write about improving health care in the United States. On October 16, 2006, the AEI-Brookings Joint Center announced that Mark McClellan would join as a visiting Senior Fellow.

Dr. McClellan previously served as Commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) beginning November 14, 2002. Originally from Austin, Texas, he is the brother of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and the son of Texas comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and attorney Barr McClellan.

Previously, Dr. McClellan was Associate Professor of Economics at Stanford University, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford Medical School, a practicing internist, and Director of the Program on Health Outcomes Research at Stanford University. He was also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Additionally, he was a Member of the National Cancer Policy Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Economics, and co-Principal Investigator of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal study of the health and economic well-being of older Americans. From 1998-99, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, where he supervised economic analysis and policy development on a wide range of domestic policy issues.

During 2001 and 2002, Dr. McClellan served in the White House. He was a Member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he advised on domestic economic issues. He also served during this time as a senior policy director for health care and related economic issues for the White House.

Dr. McClellan's research studies have addressed measuring and improving the quality of health care, the economic and policy factors influencing medical treatment decisions and health outcomes, estimating the effects of medical treatments, technological change in health care and its consequences for health and medical expenditures, and the relationship between health and economic well-being. He has twice received the Arrow Award for Outstanding Research in Health Economics. He earned his M.D. degree from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology in 1992 and his Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1993. He also earned an M.P.A. from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government in 1991. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and he is board-certified in Internal Medicine.

[edit] Role in Center for Reproductive Rights Lawsuit

During McClellan's tenure as Commissioner of the FDA, the makers of Plan B emergency contraception applied for over-the-counter status.

In May 2004, FDA commisioner Stephen Galson rejected over-the-counter status for Plan B. The Center for Reproductive Rights then filed a lawsuit, and deposed Dr John Jenkins, director of the FDA's Office of New Drugs. Jenkins alleges that he learned in early 2004 that McClellan, then Commissioner of the FDA, had decided against approval even before the staff could complete their analysis. "I think many of us were very concerned that there were policy or political issues that came to play in the decision," Jenkins stated. He later said he did not know if anyone outside FDA influenced the decision.^[1]

McClellan said in his deposition that he was not involved in the decision to reject the initial Plan B application for non-prescription sales; he left the FDA in February 2004 to head the agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid. He also said that he was never told by anyone higher up in the Bush administration what to do about the application, although he did say that he "briefed" two White House domestic-policy advisors. ^{[2] [1]} The litigation is ongoing; no finding has been made for either side.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "Plan B decision made before data review - FDA staff". Reuters via MSNBC.com: 4 August 2006. Accessed 4 August 2006.
2. ^ Julie Rovner (August 3, 2006). Plan B Depositions Allege FDA Politically Motivated. NPR. Retrieved on 2006-11-11.