Joseph Califano

President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), Joseph Califano initiated an aggressive series of policies designed to reign in health care costs: re-examination of HEW’s technology licensing policy was part of this effort. Specifically in August 1977, HEW’s Office of the General Council flagged the issue of whether university patent and licensing practices — especially the exclusive licenses that companies believe are necessary to justify investment in an innovation — contributed to higher health care costs. The Bayh-Dole legislation in part arose out of a backlash to the Califano effort.