The final insult is estate recovery. Special interest groups in Wisconsin pale in comparison to the sharks that inhabit our nation's capital. On the other hand, if you want to accomplish something notable during your tenure, you'll want to stake out some issues as your own. One area where you can make a difference, and not get eaten alive, will be protecting the privacy of personal health information. Polling indicates that huge numbers of Americans are concerned about the privacy of their personally identifiable health information.
Information privacy has bipartisan support in Washington, just as in Madison.
HHS has the responsibility for enforcing the limited privacy protection regulation that exists. You shouldn't have to give into them, when the public places such a high value on privacy. Another opportunity for you is improving the effectiveness of the programs under your management by means of careful evaluation. HHS has some 300 programs and provides grants to fund tens of thousands more programs and projects. Whether it's welfare to work programs, foster care or the introduction of new drugs, the public deserves to know how the lives of Americans are effected by the billions your department spends.