A note from Kathleen Sebelius

When President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law, he and Congress gave the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a convoluted set of statutes requiring it to set up a big, complicated health insurance enrollment website in a little more than three years.

When the site enrollment system opened to the public Oct. 1, it had problems getting users through the application process.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has given us permission to re-post a blog she has written to give her thoughts on how the department will tackle the problems.

Today, we are announcing key steps the department is taking as part of a tech surge to continue to improve the consumer experience on HealthCare.gov.

First, I am very pleased to announce we are bringing Jeff Zients — a management expert and former CEO and chairman of two publicly traded companies — on board to work in close cooperation with our HHS team to provide management advice and counsel to the project.

Jeff has led some of the country’s top management firms, providing private sector companies around the world with best practices in management, strategy and operations. He has a proven track record as acting director at the Office of Management and Budget and as the nation’s first chief performance officer.

Working alongside our team and using his rich expertise and management acumen, Jeff will provide short-term advice, assessments and recommendations.

We’ve also brought in additional experts and specialists drawn from within government, our contractors and industry, including veterans of top Silicon Valley companies.