Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 3, 1993                   TAG: 9311030333
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WILDER'S CABINET THINNING OUT

Howard Cullum, secretary of health and human resources, said he will leave Dec. 31, two weeks before the inauguration of Wilder's successor.

Cullum, 49, informed Wilder last week of his decision.

In his reply, Wilder praised Cullum for his 22 years of public service, saying, "I don't know of any more valued public servant, particularly in these tough times, than you."

Cullum, who was mental health commissioner under Gov. Gerald Baliles before joining Wilder's Cabinet, said he was gratified that the department was able to maintain services to the state's most vulnerable citizens during "the tightest revenue picture that the state has had since the Depression."

"In most cases, we have maintained the current direct services. We haven't been able to meet all the growing needs, but basically our objective was to maintain services to the elderly and mentally ill and others."

Cullum said many of Wilder's most successful health initiatives, including advances in child health care and the reinstatement of controls on construction of new health-care facilities, were overshadowed by his much-publicized fight in 1992 over a proposed provider tax on hospitals and other health-care facilities. The money would have been used to bridge a $60 million budget gap caused by soaring Medicaid costs.

"All we were asking was [for hospitals] to reduce operating expenditures by a half-percent," said Cullum. But fierce lobbying by groups such as the Virginia Hospital Association scuttled the proposal.

Cullum said the provider tax fight ended up being "a wake-up call to everybody, including the legislature," that steps needed to be taken to contain health-care costs for all segments of the population.

Since that time, the legislature has established a Commission on Health Care for All Virginians, which has worked to establish a patient-level data base and prepare the state for possible federal health reforms.

"There has been a lot of progress in what have been lean times," Cullum said.

Cullum said he planned to do some consulting in the health-care and disability fields after his term is up. He plans to remain in Richmond.