Opinion: Former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala on the agency’s ‘silly new bureaucracy’

When I was secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, an agency head came to me with a dramatic reorganization plan.

I advised him that unless it was data- and outcome-driven, he was wasting his time. Just as important, the reorganization would unsettle and confuse his new colleagues. As a result, his legacy would be a new structure rather than improving people’s lives.