A presidential transition in a new era of medical discovery

With just over a month until Election Day, both candidates are already looking beyond Nov. 8 and establishing the infrastructure necessary to transition from the campaign trail to the Oval Office. 

While voters are typically focused more on the election outcome, the presidential transition process mitigates concerns related to government continuity and helps prevent lost momentum with existing nonpartisan policies.

{mosads}In fact, this transition period is so vital that, in 2010, the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act was enacted to provide certain transition services to eligible candidates before the general election. Additional support was provided under the Presidential Transitions Improvements Act (S. 1172) of 2015, which established a federal coordinator and an inter-agency council.

During the campaign, candidates are focused on touting their policy platforms to win the election, while transition advisers prepare a plan to begin to implement them. When I led Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s transition planning in 2012, we developed a very detailed action plan that not only outlined key policies, it also identified key stakeholders we needed to collaborate with for each policy.

We recognized the need to forge alliances with the current administration and Congress to enable policy advancement.

Historically, Americans have placed the utmost importance on ensuring the integrity of our national security and our foreign affairs, among major economic and interdepartmental programs. However, healthcare policy is irrevocably important to all Americans and must not lose continuity.

In fact, a recent poll by the Galen Institute and Center Forward shows that nearly 65 percent of voters believe the next president should prioritize medical discovery during his or her first 100 days in office.

With the private sector leading the charge on new medical discoveries, never has it been more important for government to continue to play a supportive role.

Recent advances in medicine are remarkable. For example, today we’re able to cure Hepatitis C, a disease that impacts more than 3 million Americans.

There are more than 20 new medicines to help meet the needs of patients with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. We can now treat a number of cancers that didn’t have treatments 20 and 30 years ago.

However, we’ve also been faced with unexpected threats that will require attention during the transition process. The Zika virus is a timely example. While efforts to discover a treatment or cure for Zika are ongoing, ensuring continued public-private collaboration on this and other vaccines and products that prepare the nation for emerging threats and the inevitable pandemic will be critical.

Simply put, the way the health community, members of Congress and individual patients view the future of medicine is changing.

As someone who has seen the ins and outs of public policymaking at the state and federal levels, it’s clear that any future administration will have a unique set of opportunities and corresponding tools to further advance existing efforts that help address disease prevalence.

In the upcoming transition, programs that build on the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, the Precision Medicine Initiative and Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative will require the ongoing ingenuity of America’s private sector leaders and cooperation with the public sector to make impactful change.

Equally important, we must ensure the continuity of a longstanding program that makes possible the timely review of new medicines. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act has helped the Food and Drug Administration expedite the review of thousands of product applications since its initial authorization in 1992. It should be reauthorized in a timely manner.

Every transition process brings unique opportunities and challenges. Above all, it’s a time where planning at the highest levels of government is front and center. Regardless of who becomes the president-elect in November, we must recognize the importance of continuity and what it increasingly means for innovators, patients and the future of new discoveries. The next four years will undoubtedly bring additional discoveries.

Former Utah Gov. Michael O. Leavitt served as secretary of Health and Human Services from 2005 to 2009. He is founder and chairman of Leavitt Partners.

The views of Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.