Department Of Health And Human Services U S

Federal investigators have launched a criminal inquiry into problems with UCI Medical Center's failed liver transplant program. A spokesman for the university confirmed Saturday that the Orange hospital was served with a subpoena for documents by the FBI, which is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A Senate committee that controls the purse strings of the Health and Human Services Department has ordered the agency to correct any inaccurate information on a government website intended to help parents counsel their teenagers about risky health behaviors. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) added the directive to a $146-billion funding bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. The website, 4parents.gov, was set up this year.

The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly confirmed Michael Leavitt as the new secretary of Health and Human Services, setting aside partisan divisions that have roiled debate over some of President Bush's other nominees. Leavitt, who turns 54 next month, most recently headed the Environmental Protection Agency and served three terms as governor of Utah.

Shifting his Cabinet reorganization back into high gear, President Bush on Monday nominated Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt to head the Department of Health and Human Services, which faces a fiscal crunch over the massive medical costs of the elderly and the poor.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Wednesday that the federal government, as part of an ongoing investigation, has requested documents related to the financial relationships between several doctors, two physician groups and two of its hospitals in El Paso. The Santa Barbara-based hospital chain, the nation's second-largest, is the target of a number of federal probes into an array of practices, including Medicare billing. Tenet first disclosed the El Paso investigation in late January.

Tommy G. Thompson said Tuesday that he will not stay for a second term as secretary of Health and Human Services. Thompson did not say whether he would stay through President Bush's reelection campaign and the 2004 election. "I think it's time for me to take a hiatus from government and do something else for a while," he said. Thompson, a former governor of Wisconsin, said he eventually would run for office again.

Janet Rehnquist, the daughter of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, will resign as inspector general of the Health and Human Services Department after a controversial tenure. Rehnquist wrote President Bush that she will leave June 1 to spend more time with her teenage daughters and pursue other professional opportunities. Congress' General Accounting Office is investigating Rehnquist's management as internal watchdog of the huge health and welfare agency.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, who is on a one-man crusade to bully, cajole and otherwise lead Americans to healthier lifestyles, said Friday he would try to enlist the help of the private health insurance industry. Thompson called the current policies of insurance companies "wrongheaded" for not doing more to encourage people to stay in shape before they succumb to expensive maladies.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson told senators that federal doctors are ready to combat any bioterrorist attack. Thompson urged Americans to see a physician promptly if any mysterious symptoms appear. Senators asked Congress for $1.4 billion to improve the nation's health system against bioterrorism. "The threat is real. The overall probability is low . . . yet it's increasing," said Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, the nation's largest recipient of U.S. government medical research money, was ordered to cease all federally funded research on humans Thursday after the June 2 death of a volunteer in an asthma experiment. About 2,400 experiments are underway at the university, said Bill Hall, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He did not know the number of volunteers involved.